No. 5. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 227 



and drop that yellow, contagious excrement, an immediate post-mor- 

 tem will show the liver and caeca beyond repair and treatment fu- 

 tile. 



For ten years we have studied this disease among young and old 

 turkeys. We have killed and opened them in what some would call 

 the incipient stage, and we have allowed both old and young birds 

 to linger along until at last they died. While the first were not so 

 emaciated as the last, their livers, caeca and intestines had about 

 collapsd, the crop, stomach and gizzard being in fair condition. 



(See Fig. 12). 



Our conclusion is that there is no remedy but prevention for this 

 deadly malady, for, while one may occasionally patch up an old tur- 

 key, the disease remains. The bird simply becomes a germ distributor 

 and finally succumbs. 



We are aware that the Rhode Island Experiment Station recently 

 announced that sour milk is a sure cure for this disease. It may be 

 they have a brand of sour milk peculiar to that state, of strange and 

 wonderful curative qualities, for the Pennsylvania brand has been 

 fed to turkeys for years and years, and still they perished. 



It is not many years back that Ehode Island, after much experi- 

 ment, declared the infusion of wild turkey blood, the turkey tribe's 

 salvation. We believe that the turkey may be brought back to its 

 early stamina and farm flocks flourish as of yore, by a return to 

 natural methods, the Government co-operating with the turkey rais- 

 ers, by conserving the wild turkey for their use, and likewise in- 

 structing them on natural methods with turkeys. The states have, 

 with few exceptions, totally ignored the turkey raisers; but few 

 agricultural colleges teach turkey culture, and we have yet to see 

 a program for "Farmers' Week" anywhere, where turkey breeding 

 was discussed. 



Chickens compose ninety-five per cent, of this country's poultry 

 population, turkeys, geese and ducks, composing the small remainder, 

 and falling back in breeding because their production has been little 

 encouraged by Experiment Stations, notwithstanding they are profit- 

 able and add to the food supply. Pennsylvania may bring back those 

 grand flocks that once graced her farms and added to her revenue, by 

 instructing her farmers on this subject, and by conserving the wild 

 turkeys that still remain, for the infusion of new blood. 



We hatch trout fry for the fishermen, to replenish the streams for 

 their pleasure. Our great State is propagating tadpoles to promote 

 the bullyrum business, and recently there was issued a very eloquent 

 bulletin on "Conserve the Skunk." But are skunks and bullyrums 

 more important than the delicious turkey? Should the hunter be 

 allowed to kill any bird that is of service to the farmer, adds to 

 the charm of the natural scene, or promotes the love of the beautiful 

 in nature? Is it not more worthy, and the duty of this great State, 

 to make it a crime, at any time to kill wild turkeys, and to establish 

 wild turkej' reservations, where this, the only species of poultry 

 native to America, may be propagated for the distribution of wild 

 blood and eggs, so that the perishing turkey tribe may be built up 

 and the farms of Pennsylvania may again be graced with magnificent 

 flocks, as of yore? We preach much on conservation; here is another 

 fine opportunity to practice what we preach. 



