82 DISEASES OF POULTRY. 



ministered as often as is required to soften the contents. 

 After this is accomplished ^ive two grains of baking 

 soda in water, keep without food for a day, and then 

 feed sparingly on soft diet until recovery is complete. 

 In case the crop contains hard -pointed objects which 

 can not safely be manipulated in the manner just de- 

 scribed, or if such attempts at removing the impacted 

 matter are for any reason unsuccessful, the crop must 

 be cut into with a knife and the contents removed 

 through the artificial opening. In order to perform 

 this operation properly, the feathers should be clipped 

 off with a pair of scissors over the most prominent 

 part of the crop so that they will not obstruct the cut - 

 ting or get in the operator's way when he is removing 

 the contents of the crop. Now take a sharp, clean 

 knife and make an incision through the skin and the 

 wall of the crop until the food in this organ is reached. 

 This opening should not be much over an inch in 

 length, and should be rather high on the crop so that 

 the food will not have the satne tendency to press it 

 open when healing as it would at the most dependant 

 part. The contents of the crop should be carefully 

 removed with the finger, or with the handle of a spoon 

 or some other convenient object. The wound may 

 now be washed with a solution of carbolic acid, five 

 drops to one ounce of water, and closed with stitches. 

 White silk is the best material to use for this purpose. 

 Some stitch the walls of the crop first, allowing the 

 ends of the silk to hang outside, so that after five or 

 six days the thread may be cut and the stitches pulled 

 out. The skin is drawn together in the same way. 

 Other operators prefer to stitch through the skin and 

 the walls of the crop at the same time, drawing them 

 carefully and neatly together. In five or six days if 



