DISEASE OF FOWLS.—SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 
241 
DISEASE OF FOWLS. 
I do not doubt that Mr. H. T. Lloyd (see current 
volume, page 142) hassucceeded in curing his hen, 
but not by his surgical operation. I have lost in 
winter time many fowls by this same distemper. I 
tried such surgery—rhubarb pills, assafcetida, and 
other nostrums, till circumstances made me reflect 
better, and finally discover the true cause of the dis¬ 
ease. Hens are by nature provided with a crop to 
serve them as a magazine for provisions ; because, 
in their natural state, they stumble sometimes upon 
an abundance of food, and often for days find no¬ 
thing. But as any kind of vegetable or animal 
matter kept in a moist and moderately warm state, 
must inevitably begin to ferment and putrefy, all- 
provident nature has given to these bipeds the in¬ 
stinct to find a remedy against the detrimental effect 
of putrefaction upon a living organism, the remedy 
for which is lime. 
Fowls, if fed ever so well, will become sick, and 
finally die, if they cannot get at gravel and lime, 
the one acting mechanically, and the other chemi¬ 
cally, in the digestion of their food. It is an error 
to believe that they only eat lime for the formation 
of the shell of the egg, because cocks eat as much 
lime as hens, and young chickens do so likewise. 
In opening and examining hens which have died of 
this disease, their stomachs will show an essential 
difference from that of a sound fowl. In the sound 
one, the innermost coat of the stomach is a strong 
leather-like whitish or yellowish substance, and 
can be pulled off from the outermost part in one 
piece, without breaking. In the diseased hen, this 
coat will be found either completely, or at least par¬ 
tially black, round the (Esophagus, the orifice by 
which the food enters—in a state of inflammation 
or even putrefaction, crumbling to pieces, at any 
attempt to pull it off. This skin or coat contains, 
gives out, and forms the gastric juice, without 
which no digestion can take place. The chemical 
theory of fermentation, which I cannot enter into 
here, is too well ascertained, and explains the action 
and reaction of putrid food upon the gastric juice, 
if not remedied by an alkali. Any market-dealer 
of fowls will affirm that this disease befals them 
when they are cooped up for some time, and ship¬ 
masters know it too well to their great damage ; yet 
they are all either too ignorant or negligent to pro¬ 
vide them with gravel and lime. Sometimes, when 
the fowls can get both these remedies, before the 
disease is gone too far, they recover; but if they 
emit from their mouths a strong fcetid smell, nothing 
can save them. 
About three weeks ago, a friend of mine bought 
100 fowls in market. He observed some 40 or 
more sick of this disease, and dying off with full 
crops. He applied to me for advice, and I made 
him separate all the sick ones from the others, and 
keep them for 36 hours without food, provided 
only with water. We then examined them, and 
found about a dozen with full crops, yet smelling 
very bad from their mouths, which were marked, 
and put with those whose crops were empty, or 
nearly so, and kept upon a diet of soaked wheat, 
into which was mixed charcoal powder and air- 
slacked lime, for about 10 or 12 days. The first 
ones are now all dead, and the others almost all re¬ 
covered, and begin to lay. Mr. Lloyd’s hen was 
no doubt in the first stage of the disease, and his 
feeding her on warm food, perhaps scalded meal, 
which she wanted, but not gravel nor lime, being 
easily and rapidly digested, made her recover; and 
such a diet would perhaps have done so without 
surgery. I opened the crops of many hens without 
having ever saved one by it; and I believe it to 
be an error that the passage into the stomach can 
be obstructed, into which error I first fell likewise, 
although it might occur, but certainly not in a 
whole coop-full at once, and I yet doubt that an; 
fowl would sw r allow anything liable to do so; they 
are too cautious for that S. 
SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 
In looking over the January No. of the American 
Agriculturist, I noticed a communication of a gen¬ 
tleman from New York, who had examined some of 
the Spanish and French Merino sheep. He speaks 
very unfavorably of any importations from Spain 
to improve our Spanish sheep that have been re¬ 
duced by bad crossing. He states that in conse¬ 
quence of bad management, and carelessness in 
breeding, the flocks in Spain have become so r» 
duced that they have imported bucks from Saxony 
to improve them; the consequence of which is, they 
have reduced the siz§, lessened the quantity of 
wool, and enfeebled the constitution. It appears 
that they have got into the same trouble in Spain 
that we have here, and in the same way. The 
question now arises, How are we to extricate our¬ 
selves from this trouble ? If we can get no pure 
bloods that are more perfect from Spain, than we 
have here, then there is but one course for us to 
pursue, which is to see if we have any sheep that 
represent the pure Spanish blood, when first im¬ 
ported into this country, and then see whether the 
owners of them can establish the purity of that 
blood by certificates from the importers themselves, 
and from others well acquainted with their course 
of management in breeding, down to the present 
time. There are some such flocks of sheep in this 
country, and I esteem it a pleasure as well as a 
duty, to state where they may be found, and also 
to add a few remarks partly in repetition of what I 
have formerly said of my views and experience in 
the art of sheep-breeding. 
In selecting male animals for breeding, we 
should take great pains to procure pure bloods, and 
those that are most perfect in their outward appear¬ 
ance. In breeding, at least three out of four will 
partake largely in their outward coat and appear¬ 
ance of the male. In breeding fine-woolled sheep, 
this is a very important item, as the outward coat 
constitutes nine-tenths of their whole value. It 
agrees with my observation, that all crosses of pure 
Spanish Merino bucks upon any other kinds of 
sheep, prove a great improvement; and on the 
other hand, all crosses of other kinds upon the 
Spanish ewes, either injure the quality of the 
wool, lessen their size, or enfeeble the constitu¬ 
tion. I suppose that all fine-woolled sheep were 
taken originally from Spain, which was their na¬ 
tive country. It is claimed by some of the owners 
of Saxon sheep, that there should be no crossing 
that the several breeds should be kept distinct. 1 
