REVIEW. 



37i 



What can you expect else from a creature that is 

 to prow Irom the size ol a lark to 12 t)r 14 lbs. in 

 eight or nine months ? " Corn sacks, cotlers for 

 oats, barn-swallowers, ill nci<rhbnrs to Peasen," 

 are epithets deservedly earned. Tiiey will jump 

 into the potato jrround, scratch the ridires on one 

 5.ido, eat every jrrub wireworm, or beetle that they 

 find, and every hall'-fjrown potato. From thence 

 they vi-ill proceed to (he Swedes; before the bulbs 

 are lormed they will strip the jrreen from tlie 

 leaves, thereby checking the subsequent jrrowth of 

 the root. At a subsequent period lliey will do the 

 same to tiie white turnips, and here and tliere take 

 a piece out of the turnip itself. They are seldom 

 large enough before harvest to make so much ha- 

 voc among the standing corn, as cocks and hens 

 and guinea-fowl, or they have not yet acquired the 

 taste for it ; but when the young wheat comes up 

 in October and November, they will exhibit their 

 graminivorous propensities, to the great disadvan- 

 tage of the farmer. The farmer's wife sees them 

 not, says nothing, but at Christmas boasts of the 

 ■large amount of her turkey money. One great me- 

 rit in old birds (besides their ornamental value, 

 vhich is our special recommendation) is that in sit- 

 uations where nuts, acorns, and mast are to be had, 

 they will lead oil their- brood to these, and compar- 

 atively (that is all) abstain from ravaging other 

 crops. It is, therefore, not fair for a small occu- 

 pier to be overstocked with turkeys (as is too often 

 the case, and with other things also,) and then to 

 let them loose, like so many harpies, to devastate 

 and plunder their neighbour's fields. 



Soon after Michaelmas, it will be time to think 

 of fatting a portion of them. Some families re- 

 quire turkeys very early in the season ; but they 

 are like every other immature production, inferior 

 in quality. To eat turkey poults is a wasteful 

 piece of luxury ; those who order them are occa- 

 sionally deceived by a small hen of the previous 

 year. In the Roman markets hen turkeys sell for 

 a bajocco (halfpenny) a 

 pound more than the 

 cock, and there are tur- 

 key butchers, of whom 

 you may buy the half or 

 a quarter of a bird. A 

 hen will be five or six - 

 weeks in fatting, a large stag two months or long- 

 er, to bring him to his full weight. The best diet 



is barley-meal mixed with water, given in troughs 

 (see fig.,) that have a Hat board over them, to keep 

 dirt trom falling in. A turnip with the leaves 

 attached, or a hearted cabbage, may now and then 

 be thrown down to amuse them. Some use plain 

 oats, but barley-meal is preferable, acting more 

 quickly. Cramming is unnecessary, thougli it may 

 hasten the process. Wlien they have arrived at 

 the desired degree of fatness, those which are not 

 wanted for immediate use must have no more food 

 given them than is just sufficient to keep them in 

 that state, otherwise the llesii will become red and 

 inflamed, and of course less palatable and whole- 

 some. The turkey differs from the rest of our 

 poultry in being fit for the table after its youth is 

 past. Very few of the large turkeys that are 

 brought to market are less than IS months oUI ; 

 many are double that age. Nor are they the 

 worse, provided the lady of the house be informed 

 of the circumstance, and so enabled to leave a due 

 interim between the killing and the cooking. 



The hen turkey, contrary to the statements of 

 some writers, does now and then erect her tail and 

 strut like the male, and that, too, without any di- 

 minution of her feminine virtues. Tiie manners of 

 the cock are not prepossessing ; he is vain, ungal- 

 lant, careless of his young, a bully, though not al- 

 ways a coward, the most selfish creature in the 

 poultry-yard, except the musk-drake, sometimes 

 also apt to be seized with odd fancies that render 

 him useless. Their supposed antipathy to the co- 

 lour of red or scarlet, I believe to be an unfounded 

 prejudice. They display less individual attach- 

 ment to man than most other poultry, though they 

 have equa.ly, or more, thrown themselves on the 

 protection of the race of mankind. They are call- 

 ed stupid, but mark the intelligence and amiability 

 displayed by every look and action of a hen with 

 her young. And yet little real alteration of her 

 former manner is apparent. The strut that seemed 

 foolishly pompous now strikes us as justly proud 

 and cautious; the eye in which only allectation was 

 apparent now glances with anxiety and beams 

 with tenderness. The discordant voice has now an 

 object in its call, and may be heard almost to whis- 

 per in subilued notes of gentle aflfection. Thus 

 even, in the poor bird that we rear, admire and 

 kill, a higher charm and elevation is added by the 

 exercise of those holy affections which the benefi. 

 cent Creator of all has given us for our comfort. — D. 



REVIEW. 



A Discourse, delivered at the Plyinotith Church, 

 Brooklyn, N. Y. ; by Hknhy Ward Beecher. 

 New-York : published by Cady &. Burgess, 60 

 John street. 



Rarely have we perused a pamphlet witli 

 greater intellectual or moral gratification, 

 than this — a Thanksgiving Discourse — by 

 that able and eloquent man, Mr. Beecher. 



It is a discourse which every patriot 

 should read, for it will exhibit to him tlte 

 true greatness of his country : which every 

 farmer should read, for it will cause him to 

 thank Heaven for the lot in which his life 

 is cast; and which every American should 

 read, that he may learn the value of the 



