288 MAKING POULTRY PAY 



the bacteria, and the use of easily digested foods and 

 tonics to build up the system. As medicinal agents for 

 the removal of the cause by purgation, Dr. Dawson 

 recommends castor oil in two-teaspoonful doses, or 

 calomel in oft-repeated one-quarter-grain doses may be 

 tried. Purgation should be followed by a stimulating 

 tonic. Dr. Salmon recommends the following tonic in 

 similar affections: Powdered fennel, anise, coriander 

 seed, cinchona, of each thirty grains ; powdered gen- 

 tian and ginger, of each one dram ; powdered sulphate 

 of iron, fifteen grains. Mix ; add from two to four 

 grains of this mixture for each fowl to the food twice 

 a day. 



Blackhead in Turkeys — It is an infectious liver 

 disease, similar in its nature to human dysentery. The 

 disease takes its name from the fact that turkeys of a 

 certain age, when affected, look shrunken, pinched and 

 purple about the head. Turkeys having the disease 

 probably infect the land they run upon. The organisms 

 are present in their excrement, and if taken in with 

 food or water, many produce the disease in other 

 turkeys. Sick birds should be killed and burned or 

 buried deeply. Buildings, coops, and feeding and 

 drinking vessels which they may have contaminated, 

 should be disinfected. Birds once having this trouble, 

 even if they have apparently recovered, may still not 

 be free from it, and be able to scatter infecting mate- 

 rial. It is, therefore, not best to keep specimens that 

 have ever been affected. Take great pains to clear out 

 the sick from both young and old, and then if it is 

 possible, change the well ones to new ground. Little 

 turkeys are most susceptible. They are infected early 

 in life, and the disease develops fast or slow, accord- 

 ing to how numerous the organisms are, or to the 

 strength of the turkey. Wet, stormy weather aggra- 

 vates the disease. The feathers look rough, the birds 



