PRIZE ESSAYS OK TURKEY CULTURE. 135 



away, but three died in the shell and I only had fifteen 

 live ones left ; but they were about the largest, liveliest 

 little turks that I ever saw. It was so cold that I had to 

 put them in a large box by the kitchen stove, together with 

 about sixty chicks hatched with them. Well, you would bet- 

 ter believe there was a peeping and squeaking in that 

 kitchen in a couple of weeks, when all the young things 

 wanted to get out and run. At last, the weather moderating, 

 I put them in the woodshed ; the young turkeys all took cold 

 and had sore throats. I treated them with sulphur and 

 saved the most of them, but they were puny for a long 

 time. If I had kept them warm till warm weather they 

 would have done better; but when warm weather came, 

 they hung about the door and I could not get rid of them. 

 They seemed to think they must be where I was, as I was 

 the only mother they knew. A cat got some, some died, 

 and I only raised nine of them. I kept four of them for 

 years, for mothers, and they were the best I ever knew, 

 but it is a hard way (by hand) to raise turkeys, and I pre- 

 fer almost any other. 



If a turkey hen makes her nest by a field or pasture 

 fence, away from the house, or in any exposed place 

 where hogs or crows can reach it, make a low fence to 

 keep out the hogs, and cover the nest with brush or boards 

 to hide the eggs from the crows; but don't change the ap- 

 pearance of things so much as to scare away the turkey ; but 

 if she is an old hen used to being handled, she will not be 

 easily disturbed. When my turkey hens go to sitting in 

 an undesirable locality, I make a large, close, roomy nest 

 with a small covered yard in front of it, and at night con- 

 vey to it eggs and hen. I then shut her up close and keep 

 her there for a couple of days and nights, then let her 

 into the covered yard, where I feed and water her, then 

 drive her back onto the nest if necessary (which is not 

 often the case), and shut her in again. She will soon come 

 out and eat and then go back on the eggs, and before tfce 



