4:0 TUKKEY CULTURE. 



than of any other lot Mr. Tucker has ever had, and they 

 were larger, more uniform in size, ate heartier, fatted 

 quicker and were plumper and handsomer when dressed. 



Some wild Bronze crosses that are half and three- 

 fourths wild blood, are occasionally as large as the pure 

 Bronze turkeys. Several years' crossing, however, with 

 the selections of the largest for breeding each season, gives 

 the greatest size. See Fig. 11 for an illustration of this 

 fact. Wild and wild-cross birds, especially the hens, owing 

 to their slim heads and necks and their having less red 

 about the head, are, when seen among common turkeys, 

 often taken for sick birds by those not familiar with them. 

 Half-wild crosses are very hardy, but smaller than domes- 

 tic turkeys, and the hens roam so much and steal their 

 nests so far from home, that they are undesirable in breed- 

 ing for market purposes. They often roam off and stay 

 away all summer, but are almost sure to return in the fall. 

 Their flesh is about as fine as that of a wild turkey. Half- 

 wild gobblers are more manageable than the hens, and just 

 the thing to cross with common turkeys. The birds raised 

 from such a mating are not only of good size, but hardy 

 and thrifty, and make fine dressed turkeys. 



The gobbler has the most influence on size of prog- 

 eny. It will not do to coop wild-cross hens, as they 

 thrash about and kill their young in their attempts to 

 escape. It is to be hoped that the time when wild turkeys 

 are to become extinct is far distant. The methods fol- 

 lowed by the average turkey raiser so depreciate the stock 

 that, without the occasional introduction of fresh, hardy 

 blood from the forest, it would become very much degen- 

 erated. When there are no wild turkeys except those 

 preserved by man, the salvation of the domestic turkey 

 will depend on fanciers those who breed for beauty and 

 utility. They maintain the varieties pure and perfect 

 them. They, only, expend the required time and money, 

 and follow the laws of breeding necessary to prevent the 



