180 FOWLS. 



to keep the mother cooped till her little ones have estab- 

 lished their strength. The common hen often has the eggs 

 of the turkey and duck given her to bring out. Turkeys 

 roost very high, and require large perches for their talons to 

 grasp. If cooped, their house should be well ventilated. 

 The practice of cramming turkeys is mostly gone by ; they 

 fatten readily when cooped, and fed frequently on fresh food. 

 They like meal made into a thick paste, corn, boiled potatoes 

 mixed with meal, buckwheat, boiled beans, rice, and milk 

 curd ; also wheat and barley. Fifteen pounds is a good 

 weight for a turkey, but they are sometimes, by high feeding, 

 brought to twenty and thirty pounds. 



BOILED TURKEY. 



Put the turkey into a kettle of water, from which the chill 

 has been taken. Cover it close, and put it over the fire ; 

 when the scum begins to rise, skim it. Simmer slowly for 

 half an hour, then take it off, and keep it covered close in 

 the hot water ; if of middling size, the confined steam will 

 cook it enough in half an hour, and keep the skin whole, ten- 

 der, and white. Put it over the fire again, just before it is 

 to be sent to the table. Serve with oyster-sauce in a boat. 

 You may, if you choose, stuff the craw, after trussing it, with 

 bread-crumbs, chopped oyster, a little mace and salt moist- 

 ened with egg, serving up the turkey, and proceeding pre- 

 cisely as above directed. 



ROAST TURKEY. 



Roast turkeys as you do fowls ; but a forcemeat stuffing is 

 always made for the craw, and previous to trussing, the 

 breast-bone is broken, and the sinews drawn from the legs. 



The Pintado or Guinea-fowl (Numida meleagris) is, as its 

 name indicates, a native of Africa. It is reared in Virginia, 

 where its strange cry is thought to keep off birds of prey. 



