CHAPTER IV. 



TURKEY GROWING AS A BUSINESS. 



Not every one can engage in the turkey business as 

 an occupation or means of livelihood, because so much is 

 dependent upon surroundings. All farmers are not so 

 situated that they can raise turkeys without incommoding 

 their neighbors. The laws of trespass are rigid in most 

 States, and any neighbor who objects to your birds roam- 

 ing over his fields can make you trouble, if he be so dis- 

 posed. Turkeys must have range, and if your own fields 

 are not wide enough to allow them that necessary element 

 of success, either be sure of your neighbors' good nature, 

 or do not embark in the business at all. Many turkey- 

 growers believe that turkeys have a perversity of disposi- 

 tion, which impels them to leave their own premises, 

 tvhere there is plenty of room, grain and grasshoppers, 

 and trespass on some neighbor's land, to get less food. 



A few turkeys can be grown on a small farm ; but 

 there are plenty of abandoned farms in New England, 

 which can be bought for the price of the buildings alone, 

 large enough to grow large flocks. The convenience to 

 large markets enhances the profits. In the Western and 

 Southern States still greater numbers may be kept, owing 

 to wider ranges and cheapness of grain. Common fowls, 

 with proper care, can be kept with profit in any city or 

 village lot, but centuries of domestication have not changed 

 the turkeys' natural love for a necessity of free range. 

 They can be made tame by gentleness ; they learn to be 

 familiar with those who care for them, and can be taught 

 to come home every night ; but, as soon as they have left 

 the stage of "infancy," as shown by "shooting the red," 



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