36 TURKEY CULTURE. 



eithet of the parent birds and apparently careless of each 

 other, hunting their own food, and each selecting, regard- 

 less of the others, his shelter or roosting place for the 

 night. These birds apparently have no relationship to 

 the true American turkey, but are inserted here as a mat- 

 ter of interest. 



THE BEST BREED. 



The Bronze turkeys are at present the favorites with 

 the majority of those who grow turkeys for the market. 

 Size and hardiness are the important factors which cause 

 this favoritism. Sometimes private customers prefer 

 white- or yellow-skinned ones, just as they prefer yellow- 

 legged chickens. Boston has made the present taste in 

 New England, which decidedly prefers yellow-legged 

 chickens, and though the preference is not emphatic for 

 the skin of White Hollands, yet, doubtless, it is because 

 it is difficult to obtain them. The compiler of this book 

 has sold yellow-legged and yellow-skinned poultry at fifty 

 per cent advance on the price of dark-legged chickens. 

 It may be a fancy, but if you get your money, what mat- 

 ters it? By persisting in raising white turkeys for the 

 New England market for a series of years, a demand may 

 be made for them. Outside of New England, unless we 

 may except the Philadelphia market, the color of the skin 

 and legs of a fowl or turkey receives but little considera- 

 tion. 



COMMON TURKEYS. 



By "common" turkeys is meant mongrels, all sorts 

 of breeds mixed. Too many farmers have such flocks. Get 

 a first-rate male of the variety you want and mate him 

 with your hens. From their progeny select the best 

 females, and mate them with a fine male of the same breed, 

 but not related to their sire. Pursue this course, "grad- 

 ing up," for two or three years, and you will have as good 

 a flock as you need for market purposes. 



