CREMATE OR BURY THE DEAD 333 



Dangers of Poisons. — No experienced poultryman willfully 

 feeds his flock on spoiled grain, because he knows that to do so is 

 almost certain to result in sickness. No one with common sense 

 would think of leaving poisons about, such as arsenate of lead 

 or Paris green, where the fowls have access to them, or where 

 children are likely to play with them. Common sense dictates 

 that these poisonous things are in the class with high explosives, 

 to be treated with the greatest caution and forethought, lest 

 they result in some terrible fatality. In other words, we are im- 

 pressed with the danger of explosives and poisons, therefore we 

 handle them accordingly. 



Decayed Animal Matter. — It is unfortunate that poultry 

 raisers generally do not extend this caution in the matter of 

 poisons, and make it cover all such risks, since others exist 

 which are almost equally as potent as the arsenate of lead, 

 despite the fact that little or no attention is paid to them. I am 

 speaking of the decaying carcasses of fowls and rotten eggs which 

 are so often carelessly left about the premises, thrown on rub- 

 bish piles, in manure pits, or in adjoining woods and fields. 



Such carcasses, in fact, dead animal matter of any kind, really 

 constitute just so much poison as soon as they start to putrefy. 

 If death was caused by disease, the bodies are poisonous even 

 before they start to putrefy, for reasons too obvious for further 

 explanation. They are the carriers of contagion, which is the 

 equivalent of poison. 



Destroy the Dead. — ^Every authority who writes about poultry 

 or gives advice on the subject is sure to say — "Destroy the bodies 

 of dead fowls. Either burn them, put them in quicklime, or 

 deeply bury them." 



Perhaps poultry keepers have been told this so often that it 

 has lost its power, for certain it is that the advice is not followed 

 as a general practice, at least, not witl»the scrupulousness that is 

 weighed against the skull and cross-bones poison label or the 

 explosive. Yet it should be, every mite as carefully. 



Chickens Are Scavengers. — It is not a very pleasant idea to 

 contemplate chickens as scavengers, though in treating a subject 



