THE TUKKEY IMPORTANT IN THE SPREAD OF GAPEWOPiMS. 9 



year, but it was said that they never came near the chicken yards. 

 A dozen guinea fowls were kept on this farm and mingled with 

 the chickens. On two other farms where there was said to be 

 considerable trouble with gapes, guinea fowls were kept in one case, 

 but there were neither guinea fowls nor turkeys in the other. On the 

 other 5 farms where gapes was reported in the absence of turkeys, 

 few cases were said to have occurred. On 25 farms where there was 

 evidence of the contamination of the chicken runs by turkeys, gapes 

 was reported in all but one case. Here there were about 300 chickens 

 and TO turkeys roaming at will over the farm. The turkeys and 

 chickens, however, were housed on different plots of ground, neither 

 of which had been used for poultry during several years preceding. 

 On two farms there were said to have been no cases of gapes until 

 after turkeys were brought to the place. In another instance a man 

 who for five years had been on a farm where turkeys were kept by the 

 former occupant, had gapes among his chickens for a year or two after 

 coming to the farm, but had had none since. On two farms where 

 only a few cases of gapes occurred among the chickens, it was stated 

 that the turkeys were kept in the fields, and never or rarely were 

 brought into association with the chickens. On another farm where 

 there were a few cases of gapes no turkeys were kept, but turkeys 

 from the neighboring farm frequented the place. In a number of 

 other instances no turkeys were kept, but turkeys from neighboring 

 farms were accustomed to mingle with the chickens. 



Two neighboring farms that were visited during the season of 

 the year when gapes is prevalent among young chickens afforded a 

 striking contrast. On one farm where turkeys were kept entirely 

 away from the chickens and never mingled with them nor came to 

 the place where the chickens were kept there had been no gapes 

 among the chickens. On the other farm several broods of young 

 chickens were confined in small pens on the lawn in front of the 

 farmhouse. Turkeys of various ages were feeding on the same 

 lawn. Many of the young chickens were showing the characteristic 

 symptoms of gapes. 



Though the data that have been collected concerning gapes on 

 farms are necessarily more or less inaccurate because of the uncer- 

 tainty as to the reliability of the information given by the persons 

 of whom inquiries were made, the evidence obtained from this 

 source nevertheless indicates that in the localities in which the ques- 

 tion has been investigated gapes is more common and more serious 

 on farms where turkeys and chickens are kept together than on farms 

 where only chickens are kept, that the disease has a tendency to die 

 out in the absence of turkeys, and that it commonly does not appear 

 on a farm until after the introduction of turkeys. 



