POULTRY NOTES. 37 



the need for an ideal poultry plant disinfectant of anything now 

 available. Experiments carried out by the Bureau of Animal 

 Industry of the Department of Agriculture* have shown that 

 bulk for bulk a solution of liquor cresolis compositus made from 

 the least effective kind of cresol is on the average one and a 

 half times as eft'ective a germicide as carbolic acid. The experi- 

 ments showed that this solution was one of the most powerful 

 known germicides and disinfectants. The experience of the 

 Station shows that in addition to the germicidal value of a cresol 

 solution, it has a very considerable value as a poultry insecti- 

 cide. It has even been used with satisfactory results to rid hens 

 of lice by direct spraying of the birds. A very small application 

 in spray was found to rid a bird of lice without harmful effect 

 to the bird itself.* Furthermore in the experience of the Sta- 

 tion it is, when applied as a spray, very effective in ridding the 

 houses, nests, etc., of lice. 



Liquor cresolis compositus, or as it may for convenience be 

 called, cresol soap, may be easily manufactured by any poultry- 

 man. The only requisite is a careful attention to the details in 

 the process and a rigid following of the instructions given 

 below. In order to make clear the reasons for the method of 

 manufacture which will be outlined it may be well to give some 

 account of the nature of the substance itself. The active base 

 or cresol soap disinfecting solution is commercial cresol. This 

 is a thick, sirupy fluid varying in color in different lots from a 

 nearly colorless fluid to a dark brown. It does not mix readily 

 with water, and, therefore, in order to make satisfactorily a 

 dilute solution of it is necessary first to incorporate the cresol 

 with some substance wdiich will mix with water and will carry 

 the cresol over into the mixture. The commercial cresol as it is 

 obtained, is a corrosive substance, being in this respect not unlike 

 carbolic acid. It should, of course, be handled with great care 

 and the pin-e cresol should not be allowed to come in contact 



* McBryde. C. N.. The Germicidal Value of Liquor Cresolis Com- 

 positus (U. S. P). Bur. Amer. Ind. Bulletin loo, pp. 1-24, 1907. 



* We do not recommend this method of ridding birds of lice because 

 of the danpcr that the bird will take cold as a result of the wetting. 

 This experiment was performed simply to test the value of the cresol 

 solution as an insecticide under the most unfavorable conditions for 

 its action. 



