THE PRACTICAL COUNTRY GENTLEMAN 



Holland follow, the male weighing twenty-six 

 pounds and the female sixteen pounds. 



Turkeys should be kept entirely separated 

 from the other poultry. In fact, it will be wiser 

 never to allow them on the same land that the 

 fowls have roamed over. This may seem car- 

 rying precaution to excess, but our Eastern tur- 

 keys have been so inbred that they are subject to 

 diseases that do not affect our chickens. The 

 disease to be most dreaded is black-head, and 

 as this can be conveyed to turkeys through the 

 medium of hen droppings, it will be seen that 

 too much care cannot be taken to keep them 

 entirely separated. In starting a flock, pur- 

 chase birds at least two years old. One cock 

 to four or five hens is the rule in mating. Tur- 

 keys require but little attention when once the 

 insect world is astir in the spring, and from 

 then until frost one meal a day in the late after- 

 noon, composed of mixed grains, will be suffi- 

 cient. For winter quarters an open shed facing 

 south with perches well up from the ground 

 will be all that is necessary. The turkey hen 

 is disposed to hide her nest, but she can be 

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