72 Veterinary Elements. 



bred to farrow at the same age; there is little danger 

 of the average boar being over-taxed, Coburn, in his 

 Swine Husbandry, recommends that five or six farmers 

 combine to own a boar, each farmer being supposed to 

 own a dozen brood sows. 



The Digestive and Reproductive Organs of Poultry differ 

 slightly from those of other farm stock. The gullet in 

 poultry is quite long and presents a widening out in the 

 neck known as the crop, which performs practically the 

 same work as the first stomach of cattle or the saliva of 

 the horse; lower down the gullet again enlarges to form 

 the proventriculus (the first stomach cavity) where a 

 fluid resembling gastric juice is secreted, to this succeeds 

 a muscular cavity known as the gizzard. The gizzard is 

 of interest because the work of grinding the food, ordi- 

 narily done in the mouth, takes place in this muscular 

 cavity, the thoroughness of this grinding process depends 

 on the presence of grit; such being the case a supply of 

 grit is essential to the health of poultry. The powerful 

 muscular walls of the gizzard by their action grind the 

 food between the particles of grit found in that stomach. 

 The intestines are shorter than in the other varieties of 

 farm stock, and terminate in a tube known as the cloaca 

 which is common to the digestive, urinary and reproduc- 

 tive organs. The testicles in birds are located under the 

 back bone just in front of the kidneys, on a level with 

 the origin of the last two pairs of ribs. The excrement of 

 poultry is, as all know, of two colors showing distinct 

 portions. The white portion is the kidney secretion, the 

 dark portion the bowel excretion. Experiments have 

 been carried on to determine the length of time necessary 



