The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1876-09-08
THE MEDICAL IgEcH.


I IL l #.
How He Is Carefully Tended and Raised
O., 1888. His k'~s-i, Etc.
A correspondent who has visited q
leech farm in France thus describes il
Here an area of about four hundred acres
near the Garonne is devoted to this in
dustfy. The marsh is subdivded into
compartments of five or six acres in ex-
tent, each of which can be inundated
separately. 1t is surrounded by ditch
eight feet wide by five feet deep, outside
of which is bank of earth which acts
as All obstacle to the escape OF the leech-
es, and which also enables the watchman
to go round the property at night with
out been seen, for there are some thieves
who cannot resist the temptation Of
stealing even leeches when opportunity
presents itself. Outside the bank is a
second ditch, connected with the inner
one by occasional breaches in the inter-
vening bank. Each compartment is
intersected with drains, and can be food
ed or laid dry at will by opening the
matches with which the bitches are pro-
vided. In the case of draining the
water off, the lower matches are replaced
by perforated metal ones, through which
the water, but not the leeches, eau es
cape. Besides these breeding grounds
is a reservoir, similar to them in every
respect, which is replenished at every
opportunity with the largest leeches; So
that, when the other beds are laid dry,
there is always stock on hand ready for
the market. This reservoir is always
kept covered with water to the depth of
three to five inches, and holds from forty
to fifty thousand leeches to the acre-a
rate rather larger than observed in the
breeding ponds, which are populated to
the extent of thirty to forty thousand
leeches per acre. During the cold season
the leech remains quite underground /;
but the first rays of the spring sun bring
him out, and then troop of horses is
made to enter the breeding grounds, in
the proportion of ten to the acre. The
leeches attach themselves to the lower
part of the legs of the animals, which
are kept for the purpose and driven into
the marsh, and then gorge themselves.
The same troop of horses remain 6" on
service" for five or six hours, when they
are recalled and tended, and sent back
to their pastures, where they are allowed
to rest and regain strength. After eight
or ten days rest, the horses are again
dispatched on duty the hitherto unfed
leeches, and those that have digested
their last repast come out again, and
from about the LIST of March to the mid
die of June they are thus fed about eight
or ten times each.
In June the leeches all go under
ground, and the laying dry of the parks
commences the horses are kept out OF
them. the weeds and reeds are allowed
TO grow, and the soil becomes better
knit together, as it were. In july and
August the leeches come out to deposit
their eggs in the tufts of heritage, and
then the drains before mentioned are
filed with water enough to keep the
ground moist. The leeches having per-
formed this duty, again burrow under
ground, and in a short time the young
ones make their escape from the eggs.
The parks are now inundated, and at
the end of August the fishing COM
mences. The fishers, protected by high
boots, enter the pond arranged in lines,
and beat the water with sticks, to arouse
the dormant leeches, which soon appear
in great numbers. ready, after long fast,
for another feast. The large ones are
carefully lifted out and placed in bags,
with which each person is provided; and
the line of fishers gradually advance till
the whole bed is thoroughly beaten. 1t
then left to be subjected, three or
four days afterward, to another careful
search, sufficient stock being always
reserved in the shape of the young and
small leeches, and those that, not hav-
ing digested their food, do not put in an
appearance on the unceremonious sum-
mons of the collectors.
The price of leeches in the market
now is about "a per pound
weight, an average of 500 individuals
going to the pound. An establishment,
such as described above, will produce
several million leeches annually In a
healthy condition. Serious losses are
experienced in cold weather, and in con-
sequence of injudicious handling OF the
annelides; but the profits are neverthe-
less considerable, as the cost OF mainte-
nance and collection is not very great.
The method of feeding these interest
ing fiocks is, as we have said, by sending
a number of horses into the ponds peri
odically, for unless leeches are provided
with an ample commissiariat, they will
take themselves off in search of forage
elsewhere. The horses used for this
purpose do not suffer to anything like
the extent that might be imagined. They
are closely watched during the opera
ton, and carefully tended afterward.
In many cases horses which have been
bought for triAe have, under the care
bestowed upon them, improved so won.
derfully as to have been sold afterward
Mt profit, 80 little does the system in
jure them. Old horses, whose lives
have hitherto been succession OF hare
knocks and fasting and perpetual
round of fatiguing journeys, here find ;
relief from their burdens; death is de
ferred for months, and even years, ant
the latter period of their life is passed
in paradise compared with the expert
ence they have gone through.