Missouri Home Makers' Conference. 617 



eight weeks they are allowed to roost out of runs unless stormy. 

 They are well filled after their day's gleanings of bugs and worms. 

 Keep plenty of cool, clean water for them to drink. Last sum- 

 mer I followed many a hot trail with a bucket of cool water for 

 my pets, as the branch that usually affords plenty went dry. 



I find the main trouble with raising turkeys is "we forget 

 they are not chickens." The culture is very different. Tur- 

 keys habits are wild; give them freedom, and do not hamper. 

 The work of raising turkeys will prove a profitable and pleasant 

 pastime. 



"Here's to the turkeys for weal or woe, 



A farmer's good friend, to the insect a foe." 



CHICKENDOM FROM THE FARMER WIFE'S VIEWPOINT. 



(Mrs. Scott Cunningham, Palmyra, Mo.) 



With the first signs of spring come the alluring poultry 

 catalogues, filling the beginner with unbounded enthusiasm 

 and visions of chickens galore. To read in the current maga- 

 zine about the experience of the city fledgling who, from book 

 learning, imagines that poultry culture is his special calling, 

 and begins at the top of the ladder, is, to say the least, pathetic, 

 for never did Shakespeare write such tragedy. If the ghosts 

 of all the chicks that have been deliberately overfed, smothered 

 and tortured by incubator, brooder (fireless and otherwise), 

 through ignorance and stupidity, could haunt their respective 

 owners, I fear that King Richard's dreams would pale into insig- 

 nificance by comparison. 



Well do I remember my own tragic beginning and not only 

 realize each year that there is much to learn in raising poultry 

 successfully for profit as well as pleasure, but that the farmer's 

 wife, with her all-round duties, cannot give them her undivided 

 attention, and must plan the easiest way to conserve her time 

 as well as her strength. 



When we moved to the farm from a distant town, some 

 years ago, my thoughts naturally turned .to poultry raising. 

 Dreams of fried chicken and fresh eggs was the goal. My first 

 investment was an incubator. Oh, the pathos of it! It proved 

 to be very unreliable, the temperature playing hide and seek 

 with the weather most of the time, and especially so at night. 

 Suffice to say, after furnishing a great deal of entertainment 

 for the family during the required length of time, sixty little 



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