THE TURKEY IMPORTANT IN THE SPREAD OF GAPEWORMS. 9 
year, but it was said that they never came near the chicken yards. 
A dozen guinea fowls were kept on this farm and mingled with 
the chickens. On two other farms where there was said to be 
considerable trouble with gapes, guinea fowls were kept in one case, 
but there were neither guinea fowls nor turkeys in the other. On the 
other 5 farms where gapes was reported in the absence of turkeys, 
few cases were said to have occurred. On 25 farms where there was 
evidence of the contamination of the chicken runs by turkeys, gapes 
was reported in all but one case. Here there were about 300 chickens 
and TO turkeys roaming at will over the farm. The turkeys and 
chickens, however, were housed on different plots of ground, neither 
of which had been used for poultry during several years preceding. 
On two farms there were said to have been no cases of gapes until 
after turkeys were brought to the place. In another instance a man 
who for five years had been on a farm where turkeys were kept by the 
former occupant, had gapes among his chickens for a year or two after 
coining to the farm, but had had none since. On two farms where 
only a few cases of gapes occurred among the chickens, it was stated 
that the turkeys were kept in the fields, and never or rarely were 
brought into association with the chickens. On another farm where 
there were a few cases of gapes no turkeys were kept, but turkeys 
from the neighboring farm frequented the place. In a number of 
other instances no turkeys were kept, but turkeys from neighboring 
farms were accustomed to mingle with the chickens. 
Two neighboring farms that were visited during the season of 
the year when gapes is prevalent among young chickens afforded a 
striking contrast. On one farm where turkeys were kept entirely 
away from the chickens and never mingled with them nor came to 
the place where the chickens were kept there had been no gapes 
among the chickens. On the other farm several broods of young 
chickens were confined in small pens on the lawn in front of the 
farmhouse. Turkeys of various ages were feeding on the same 
lawn. Many of the young chickens were showing the characteristic 
symptoms of gapes. 
Though the data that have been collected concerning gapes on 
farms are necessarily more or less inaccurate because of the uncer- 
tainty as to the reliability of the information given by the persons 
of whom inquiries were made, the evidence obtained from this 
source nevertheless indicates that in the localities in which the ques- 
tion has been investigated gapes is more common and more serious 
on farms where turkeys and chickens are kept together than on farms 
where only chickens are kept, that the disease has a tendency to die 
out in the absence of turkeys, and that it commonly does not appear 
on a farm until after the introduction of turkevs. 
