The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1876-10-05
CHORUS
THE MEDICAL LEECH.

4 correspondent who has visited Teeth
farm in France thus describes it: Here
an area Of about four hundred acres near
the Garonne, is devoted to this industry
The marsh is subdivided into compartments
of five or six acres in extent. each of which
can be inundated separately. 1t is sur
rounded by ditch eight feet wide by five
deep, outside Of which is a bank of earth
which acts as an obstacle to the escape of
the leeches and which also enables the
watchman to 60 round the property at night
without being seen, for there are some
thieves who cannot resist the temptation Of
stealing even leeches when opportunity pre-
sentitself Outside the bank is second ditch,
connected with the inner one by occasional
breaches in the Intervening bank. Each
compartment is intersccted with drains, and
can be flooded or laid dry at will by open
Ing the matches with which the bitches are
provided. In the case of draining the wa
ter off, the lower matches are replaced by
perforated metal ones, through which the
water, but not the leeches, can escape. Be
sides these breeding grounds is a reservoir,
similar to them i'll every respect, which is
replenishcd at every opportunity with the
largest leeches 50 that when the other
beds are laid dry, there is always stock
on hand ready for the market. This re-
servoir 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 OBJ
served in the breeding ponds, which are po-
pulated to the extent of thirty to forty thous
and lecches per acre. During the cold season
the leech remains quite under ground 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 proper
ton of ten to the acre. The ieeches 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 re-
main con 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 first of March to the middle 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 her
bage, 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 short time the young ones
make their escape from the eggs.
The parks are now inundated, and at the
end Of August the fishing commences. 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 their 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 advances
till the whole bed is thoroughly beaten. 1t
is then left to be subjected, three or four
days afterward, to another careful search, a
sufficient stock being always received in the