44 



FANCIERS' JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 



Ely E. Weare, Cedar Rapids, for best pair Black Eed 

 Game chickens, silver cup, $5. 



0. C. Leonard, Cedar Eapids, for best pair Colored Dork- 

 ings, Farmers' Union, $2. 



Jan Grkerke, Colony, for best pair Toulouse geese, $5. 



Mrs. S. G. Li vermore, Eobin, for best pair Rouen ducks, $5. 



P. Newcomb, Cedar Rapids, for best collection of Pigeons, 

 not less than six varieties, Fanciers' Journal, $2.50. 



0. C. Leonard, Cedar Rapids, for best pair Light Brah- 

 mas, by exhibitor under eighteen years of age, Western 

 Agriculturist, $1. 



Ernest E. Day, Cedar Rapids, for best pair Buff Cochins, 

 by exhibitor under eighteen years of age, Western Agri- 

 culturist, $1 ; for best pair Buff Cochins, exhibited by breeder 

 under eighteen years of age, Farmers' Union, $2. 



C. E. Calder, Cedar Rapids, for best male Mocking Bird, 

 $5. 



J. Louis Billau, Cedar Rapids, for best singing Canary, $5. 



Mrs. Jeff. Phillips, for best Bullfinch, $5. 



W. G. F. Benett, Cedar Rapids, for best pair Partridge 

 Cochins, exhibited by a breeder under eighteen years of age, 

 Farmers' Union, S2. 



(For Fanciers' Journal.) 



CHICKEN CHOLERA AND ROUP. 



The writer is an old breeder of poultry in Massachusetts, 

 having for more than thirty years been an importer, and 

 fancier in rearing the Asiatics, principally ; as well as a free 

 experimenter with all varieties, from the petite bantam to 

 the gigantic Cochin and Shanghai. 



Looking over the pages of the Fanciers' Journal, I noted 

 allusions to what is termed " chicken cholera," among other 

 fowl diseases, with proposals for its prevention or cure. I do 

 not know how manj^ thousands of domestic birds I have 

 raised successfully in the past three decades, hut certainly a 

 great many. I never saw a ease of chicken cholera in my 

 own experience with fowls, and never had a dozen cases of 

 roup in my yards to my knowledge. 



As to the "cholera" (so called), I think itmustperhaps be 

 limited to Pennsylvania or the Middle States; and I judge, 

 from the fact that all the accounts I have ever read (where 

 this disease prevailed to any extent), related to the existence 

 of this poultry scourge in that region only, we certainly have 

 never been troubled with it in ISlew England. I therefore 

 conclude that chicken cholera does not occur with us, on 

 account, probably, of the difference in climate. We get a 

 good many fowls here, in later years, from Pennsylvania, 

 Philadelphia, &c, and I do not see but that they thrive sub- 

 sequently with us as well as any birds we import or obtain 

 out of New England. I am, consequently, curious to know 

 why it is, that in all our numerous purchases from your 

 vicinity (and there certainly have been sent hither from your 

 part of the country hundreds of fowls) we do not get this 

 disease communicated among our poultry. 



As to roup, we do meet with this frequently ; but it 

 may invariably be accounted for where it occurs with any 

 severity. The loose and heedless manner in which our poul- 

 try is too commonly cared for ; the hiving of any given 

 number in close, foul quarters ; the exposure to rain, snow, 

 cold winds, storms, &c, at all seasons; the neglect to keep 

 fowls decently comfortable by night ; the absence in their 

 limited coops of fresh, clean water daily, which is a desider- 

 atum to their health ; and other similar neglects occasion 

 roup nineteen times out of twenty, when it occurs. 



But these diseases are epidemic, say most breeders. Very 

 good — admitted ; yet they must have a starting point. If 

 you purchase a roupy fowl accidentally, kill and bury him ; 

 or return him, on sight, whence he came. If you note its 

 presence, at once remove the infected fowl from among your 

 flock ; and if another shows the symptoms, serve him, or her, 

 in the same summary way. That is my course invariably ; 

 and I have had very few sick fowls in my extensive poultry 

 yards, in the past more than a quarter of a century. 



"Expensive work, this!" says one. Yes, so it is; if you 

 suffer it to continue and spread among your flocks. Not 

 otherwise, comparatively. It is an evil; but of the two evils 

 always choose the least. Roup once under headway in your 

 poultry houses, will kill ten, and miserably befoul, sicken, 

 and render useless, for weeks or months, twenty or fifty, 

 while you are destroying hut one or two. And if you do not 

 believe this, try to cure this disease after it fairly gets under 

 headway among your broods, and see how you come out. 



Fowls that are huddled together in masses, in close, 

 filthy quarters at night; that are ill-fed and foul-watered, 

 or exposed to cold draughts of winds or storms, will generate 

 among themselves roup and lice, with astonishing celerity 

 and certainty. Prevent this, by the opposite kind of care 

 and shelter, and the breeder, in my opinion, will have little 

 or no roup or cholera among his chickens. At least, such is 

 the experience of an 



Old Breeder. 



Mitchell, Ont., Canada, December 24, 1873. 

 Friend Wade. 



Since last hearing from 3 r ou, I have had the misfortune 

 to be burned out on the 12th of November. My premises 

 were totally destroyed by fire. 



I need scarcely say this has to a small extent upset my 

 calculations, and for a short time demoralized the " Mitchell 

 Columbary." However, nothing daunted, I have again 

 built, and my birds are comfortably housed. Most of my 

 birds were got out on the same principle that pianos are 

 from third floor windows, nothing the worse for it. Many 

 died in the bags in which they were carried ; some were 

 burned after getting them out of the fire; some flew 

 into the flames ; many perished with the cold, and some of 

 the hardier kinds are flying wild to this day. 



My high hopes of a pleasant time as an exhibitor and 

 visitor at the approaching Buffalo show, which is within 

 easy reach, have crumbled into pieces. I fully intended to 

 be there, and to have again greeted the ring friends. I an- 

 ticipated meeting yourself among the number. I received 

 the Fanciers' 1 Journal anal Poultry Exchange, and am much 

 pleased to find that we have now a medium through which we 

 can find what we want, and tell what we have, once a week. 



You have my best wishes for its success and prosperity. 

 Put me down as a subscriber and find herewith my adver- 

 tisement. 



Before closing my letter, allow me to say to those who 

 are no doubt surprised at not receiving answers to their let- 

 ters, and still more at the non-receipt of birds which have 

 been paid for, as ordered, that I sincerely regret the incon- 

 venience and unpleasantness it may have occasioned them, 

 and ask under the circumstances, their kind forbearance. 



Those who have not countermanded their orders will 

 have them filled this week. 



Yours truly, 



F. F. Pole. 



