128 TUEKEY CULTURE. 



that time they get so sleepy it is slow work. This teaches 

 them to expect supper, and they will soon come of their 

 own accord. When large, the supper need not be a very 

 hearty one, as they don't need it if there are plenty of 

 bugs, but jusfc for the principle of the thing, to get them 

 home, it is best to offer a reward. When feeding buck- 

 wheat for the first time, they rush around in a confiding 

 way they have, expecting the familiar food of curd. See- 

 ing only buckwheat, a universal cry of "quit" will be set 

 up all along the line, and it is only after careful examina- 

 tion and thoughtful observation of the fact that the moth- 

 ers are eating, that they can be induced to touch the stuff 

 of which they are afterwards always so fond. After the 

 flock goes to roost they are usually very little trouble un- 

 til marketing. 



I suffer very little loss from sickness, but hawks and 

 foxes sometimes make sad havoc. I fatten on whole corn, 

 with an occasional feed of buckwheat to counteract bowel 

 looseness. Clear Indian meal is a harmful food at any 

 time for turkeys, but mixed with boiled potatoes it makes 

 an appetizing change and does not have the bad effect of 

 the clear meal. 



They should be provided with gravel to assist the di- 

 gestive process, and have pure water within reach. Some 

 shut them up; I do not. Norfolk, the great English county 

 for fine turkeys, fattens them by filling a trough with 

 corn and good barley. Besides that, two meals a day of 

 as much barley meal as they will eat, with gravel, etc., is 

 given. 



WELL-DRESSED FOWLS PAY BEST. The following rules 

 may be observed with profit : Do not feed the fowls the 

 morning they are to be killed. Full crops look bad and 

 are liable to sour if left in. Bleeding in the neck produ- 

 ces finer-flavored and whiter meat than when killed in any 

 other way. Some markets demand scalded birds, and oth- 

 ers dry picked. As I dispose of my turkeys to customers, 



