Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1881-09-15
a Leech Farm.

In 1841 Mr.. Witte, established a
small leech farm in Kent Avenue, Will
hamsburg, l.. l. In course Of time this
small establishment WAS abandoned, and
one of thirteen acres was established
near Newton, L. l.. and to him the
writer is indebted for the following in
formation and description of the only
leech farm in America. The breeding
ponds consist of oblong squares of one
and a half acres each. The bottoms OF
these ponds are of clay, the margins Of
peat. In June the leeches begin form
ing their cocoons on the peat margins
Of tho pond.
The greatest enemies to the young
leeches are musk rats, water rats, and
water shrews, who dig the cocoons out
of the soft peat breeding margins. Next
to rats and shrews is overheating of the
peat or the water of the pond In fact,
nothing is so fatal to leeches as a too
high temperature Mr.. Witte says he
has had leeches frozen in solid ice, but
by slowly dissolved the ice and gradually
increasing the temperature of the water
the leSches sustained no injury. The
depth of the water in the ponds during
the summer is three feet; in winter time
the depth of water increased to avoid
freezing.
The leeches are fed every six months
on fresh blood placed in thin linen bags,
which are suspended in the water. The
leeches, as soon as they smell the blood,
assemble from all parts of the pond, and
attaching themselves to the outside of
the bag, suck the dissolving coagulated
blood through the linen. Digestion pro-
ceeds very slowly with the leech, during
which time the blood remaing undigest-
ed in the stomach of the leech is in a
fluid state, as if taken in. The excre-
mental deposits are of grass-green
color. The best substance for packing
leeches in is the peat of their natural
ponds made into a stiff mud. Water
containing tannin, tannic acid, lime, salt,
or brakish water, must be guarded against
always; iron is not Objectionable, but is
an advantage in small quantities.
The demand for leeches in the last
few years has somewhat fallen off in the
Eastern and Southern States. The
Western States and California are now
the heaviest buyers. Mr.. Witte's sales
alone average thousand a day. The
number of leeches imported into the
United States amounts TO about thirty
thousand yearly.
The custom of stripping and sailing
leeches, to cause them to disgorge after
having been applied, has passed away,
as many well established cases have oc-
Cured of infectious diseases having been
communicated on the application of the
same leech to a second party. A very
popular error exists that leech when
applied takes only the bad blood (what.
ever that may be) and rejects the good
this is a mistake. With leech blood
is blood. be it the cold blood of fish ol
the warm blood of a human being, nc
matter how diseased that human being
may be. So long as blood is not tainted
or putrid the leech will thrive on it. A
friend of mind, who was the proprietor
of a large leech-breeding establishment
at the foot of the Hartz Mountains, wheI
wishing to feed his leeches, was in the
habit of hiring poor laborers, at si1
cents per day, to stand in the water fo
half an hour nearly up to their thighs
that the leeches might obtain full gor
ging of human blood.
In the marshy lands of Roumania tn
wild leeches are captured by means o
men entering the water and allowing tn
wild leeches to fasten on to their nakeC
bodies. The leech fishers then stril
them off after reaching the shore.