86 TURKEY CULTURE. 



those in the trees seemed bright and healthy. The con- 

 trast was so great that in midwinter, during the coldest 

 weather, those roosting in the building were shut out and 

 compelled to roost in the trees, and in a few days they 

 had improved and many of them were as well as ever. 

 The shed was kept perfectly clean and they were not over- 

 crowded. Satisfactory results may be obtained in winter 

 if the roosts are placed in the center of an old, empty hay 

 barn, with quarter-inch cracks between the boards on all 

 sides. The less housing turkeys have, except as described 

 for young turkeys, the better. 



When turkeys are confined, a dust bath is indispensable. 

 Take two boards, each four or five feet long, set them on 

 edge in one corner of your house, where there is good light, 

 so as to form a square, and fill it with dry loam in late 

 summer or early fall. Sifted coal ashes may be used to 

 mix with the loam, but wood ashes should not, unless they 

 first be leached ; even then, they will prove of more value 

 to you on your garden soil. Never, in any case, allow 

 wood ashes to mix with poultry manure. The alkali of 

 the ashes liberates the ammonia of the manure, and be- 

 sides the dreadful odor which arises, you lose much of the 

 fertilizing properties of the manure. 



TUEKEY SHEDS. 



Turkey sheds are for housing young turkeys in stormy 

 or boisterous weather. Almost always in May we have, in 

 the Northern States, a cold rain storm, lasting from three 

 to nine days, that will kill more turkey chicks, unless they 

 are guarded from exposure to the rain, than the ax will 

 kill at the next Thanksgiving. When the farmer's wife 

 has but two or three broods of young turkeys, she can 

 move them into dry coops in the barn, woodshed, or any 

 place where they can be kept dry, until pleasant weather 

 returns, but the turkey grower who intends to grow 200 to 

 500 or 1000 turkeys will find turkey sheds necessary. Prop- 



