TURKEY GROWING AS A BUSINESS. 45 



Houses, except in the extreme North, and turkey sheds in 

 other sections, are not needed. Turkeys must be raised on 

 farms, and farmers raise much of the grain they need. 

 One torn and three to five hen turkeys are enough to begin 

 with- When you can raise all, or nearly all, of their prog- 

 eny, then it will be time to think of enlarging your 

 business. From a flock of six you ought to raise seventy- 

 five to one hundred turkeys. 



Turkey raising is an excellent business for women. 

 Many a farmer's wife, whose husband does not care to 

 *'bother with poultry," can earn from fifty to three hun- 

 dred dollars a year, according to the size of the flock, the 

 range and the market, without seriously impeding the 

 other necessary work which falls to the lot of farmers' 

 wives. 



It is unnecessary to .quote market prices here as a 

 criterion, for they vary so in different localities. In 1894, 

 for Thanksgiving and Christmas, turkeys retailed in 

 Indianapolis for ten to twelve cents per pound ; in Boston, 

 from eighteen to twenty-five cents, according to quality. 

 Whoever engages in turkey raising must remember that 

 success in raising turkeys is bought at the same price as 

 liberty eternal vigilance. 



Rhode Island Experiment Station: "To the fore- 

 going it should be said, that we have found the largest 

 and most thrifty looking turkeys on rather light land, and 

 where new blood is frequently introduced. If a flock 

 becomes diseased, the land which they wander over may 

 become contaminated, and affect other flocks which occupy 

 the same ground, hence it is sometimes necessary to change 

 the land on which they run, from one year to another. 

 If turkeys are kept where they may drink from stagnant 

 pools in barnyards, pigpens or privy vaults, sudden and 

 fatal attacks of bowel trouble must be expected. A ru~ 

 ning stream is of great value on a turkey farm." 



