TURKEY CULTURE. 



chickweed, or if you cannot get that, tender bunches of 

 clover will answer; cut it up fine and mix it in their milk. 

 When the days are warm and fine, let them out for a run 

 in the fields for grasshoppers, which they are greedily 

 fond of, but be sure the dew is all off the grass before you 

 turn them out, as a wetting is generally fatal to the ten- 

 der birds. 



At six weeks of age, when they begin to show the red 

 on the head and neck, "shooting the red/' as it is called, 

 feed them a little cracked wheat. At this time, and for 

 some weeks, in connection with their bread food, mix a 

 little bone meal with their bread, and you will find that 

 it will afford much assistance to the young birds and pre- 

 vent leg weakness. As the birds get older, you can vary 

 their food, giving some whole grain when three months 

 old, and a variety of any good food; above all, give them 

 free range at this age, but still avoid getting them wet, as 

 much as possible, as it prevents growth. 



You have clear sailing from this time until you feed 

 them for the market, at Thanksgiving or Christmas. I do 

 not confine my turkeys when I fatten them. I find they 

 do better when at liberty, for they will be more contented 

 than when imprisoned, and when well fed will not roam 

 about any to speak of, and take on fat much faster than 

 when shut up. Feed them all they can eat at this time, 

 a mash of corn meal and potatoes, or clear corn meal 

 mixed with milk is good, and plenty of grain, barley, 

 wheat, or peas, or all together. I prefer the mixture. 



To prove the value of the course of treatment pre- 

 scribed in this essay, I will just give a little of my expe- 

 rience with a small flock of turkeys. I set eleven turkey 

 eggs under a common hen. They were from good stock, 

 but not pure bred. The eggs all hatched, and from the 

 very start they grew very fast, and not a ^bit of disease or 

 lameness ever troubled those eleven turkeys; th ay were 

 the most even-sized lot I ever saw, and were the admira- 



