46 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



days unfed, without harm to them. Feed the young poults with 

 hard boiled eggs, chopped fine, or a little milk-curd, four or five 

 times a day for the first week or two, afterwards stale bread crumbed 

 fine, will answer until they are strong enough to follow the old 

 bird. They soon learn to range for food, and no bird is more active 

 in the pursuit of grasshoppers and other insects than the turkey. 

 Comparatively few people have uniform success in raising turkeys. 

 When the old birds are . watched, shut up, and made to sit when 

 they can be controlled, and the young receive great care from the 

 first, they seem to do no better, and often not so well as when the 

 old hen steals a nest in the woods, and brings her brood home only 

 when she finds it hard to provide for them. Turkeys as well as 

 other fowl must get their growth, or nearly so, before they will 

 take on flesh and fat readily. All poultry should be fatted 

 before being butchered. We rarely see well fatted poultry in our 

 markets ; certainly the reason for this is not because people will 

 not buy it, for many people will buy high priced things, simply 

 because high prices are the only indication of superiority which 

 they appreciate. Upon every farm and about every house w^ith a 

 small piece of land, a certain number of fowls may be kept at a 

 small expense ; in warm weather they get most of their living by 

 devouring insects, and picking up food about the buildings that 

 would otherwise be wasted or lost. 



At this age of the world, poultry and eggs have become a 

 necessity ; and the assertion is warranted, that the production of 

 domestic poultry is not sufficiently appreciated, and that it should 

 receive more attention from the farmer. Some one has well said, 

 " It should be the constant aim of every farmer to make all parts 

 of his domain tributary to his finances ; and for this purpose lie 

 should levy frequent contributions upon his fields, his pastures, 

 his woodlands, orchard, garden and the farm-yard. ' Monarch of 

 all he surveys,' he should summon all his possessions to aid him 

 in the attainment of that competence that is necessary to his 

 personal independence, happiness and moral improvement." 



Mr. Holmes presented the following, on 



Thr VrXlETABLE GaEDEN. 



It has been said, that " he who makes two blades of grass to 

 grow where but one grew before, is a public benefactor;" and he 

 who will induce one person to cultivate a vegetable garden, who 



