THE USE OF NICOTIN AND ITS COMPOUNDS FOR THE
                               CONTROL OF POULTRY PARASITES*.

                                                            BY

                                             CLIFF D. CARPENTER,

                                 Petaluma Laboratories, Los Angeles, Calif.

(Reprinted from the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, N. S.,
                                            Vol. 31, No. 5, May 1931.)

The use of tobacco and its alkaloid, nicotin, for the control of insects, began
with the introduction of its use in floriculture, about 1890, when nurserymen and
gardeners used tobacco stem fumigation as a means of protecting their flowers
against insect life. These insects were destroyed by burning the tobacco stems,
producing a dense smoke, and also by spreading the tobacco several inches deep in
the greenhouses or beneath the plants.

In 1892, the first standardized extract of nicotin, called " Rose Leaf ", was
placed upon the market. This product contained slightly less than 3 per cent.
nicotin and had many disadvantages, being thick and gummy and was employed by
exposing the extract to live steam under high pressure, and forcing the diluted
vapors throughout the greenhouses by a system of pipes.

As early as 1898, the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station reported that
Rose Leaf cost less, was easier to prepare, was more effective and had a wider range
of application than any form of insecticide used up to that time.

The first entrance of nicotin into the control of animal parasites dates back to
the early nineties, when sheep were first dipped for scabies, ticks and lice. It was
soon proved that nicotin destroyed all three of these external parasites with a single
dipping and was greatly superior to lime-sulfur solutions, arsenical dips and coal-tar
previously used.

In 1910, Arnold developed a 40 per cent. solution of sulfate of nicotin and for
twenty years this product has been available, principally in the form of " Black
Leaf 40".

Lamson found that Black Leaf 40 was an effective agent in the control of
stomach worms of sheep. For several years nicotin had been given in various

* Presented at the 67th annual meeting of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Los
Angeles, Calif., Aug. 26-29, 1930.

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