334 THE BEGINNER IN POULTRY 



the selection of the breeding stock for health and 

 vigor," she conquered the disease in her flock. It has 

 never reappeared. 



I regard it as practically impossible to disinfect the 

 ground on which turkeys range, as they roam so widely. 

 But, the wider and cleaner the range, the less liable 

 is the disease to get into the flocks. The rest of Mrs. 

 Allen's program may be followed by any one. Her 

 first rule, never to spare a bird really sick with the 

 disease, is the most difficult for the average poultry 

 raiser to follow. But she regards it as the key to 

 success. 



There are seven varieties of turkeys recognized in 

 this country, viz., the Bronze, the Narragansett, the 

 White, the Black, the Buff, the Slate, and the Bourbon 

 Red. The first, with possibly the last, seem to be the 

 most prominent in the minds of raisers. They are the 

 largest, the Bronze variety being listed in the American 

 Standard of Perfection at from 20 pounds for the hen to 36 

 for the adult cock; the Bourbon Red at from 14 to 30 

 pounds. The last, which is the newest, is said to be bred 

 up from a once wild variety of Bourbon County, Ken- 

 tucky. Most of the others have little hold on the country, 

 though the Narragansett variety was once quite popu- 

 lar. The Bronze turkey is raised everywhere ; and, al- 

 though a small or medium bird is most often needed by 

 the modern family, the call to breeders of turkeys is 

 for large breeding birds. Mr. Felch has said that a 

 twenty-pound female will seldom lay, and that a " torn " 

 weighing. over thirty pounds is worthless as a breeder. 

 The big Bronze turkey is the result of a cross ; the 

 parentage being a wild gobbler and a Narragansett fe- 



