146 TURKEY CULTURE. 



has thought they did not get enough without it and has 

 continued the feed the whole season. 



In November they are given all the corn they will eat. 

 They like northern white flint corn the best, fatten most 

 rapidly on it, and the quality of the flesh is also finer 

 when it is given. If fed new corn, they have bowel trou- 

 ble. Mr. Tucker usually gives old and new corn mixed, for 

 fattening. When the young turkeys get to be the size of 

 quails, two hens and their flocks usually join forces and 

 roam together until fall. In the fall the sexes separate, 

 the gobblers going together in one flock and the hens in 

 another. About Thanksgiving, the litters hatched in the 

 latter half of May weigh, gobblers eighteen to twenty 

 pounds, and hens ten to eleven pounds each. Mr. Tucker 

 does not care to raise second litters. When he has them, 

 it is because the hens have stolen their nests. He has 

 considerable loss among late turkeys, and if such birds are 

 kept over winter they get sick more readily, and as disease 

 spreads very quickly among turkeys, he looks upon them 

 as disease breeders. 



The turkeys of the early litters that are lost generally 

 die during the first week, or in August, when two or three 

 months old. There are no foxes, weasels or skunks on the 

 island. Mr. Tucker prefers birds with short legs, as they 

 have the plumpest bodies. His turkeys are a mixture. 

 Many are of a light gray color, similar to Narragansett tur- 

 keys. There are also buff, brown and dark ones. He pre- 

 fers the brown and gray to the black, as they look better 

 when dressed. He finds medium weights sell best except 

 at Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year. 



THE WISCONSIN IDEA. 



MARY C. BARRETT, LAFAYETTE COUNTY. 



Four years ago I commenced turkey raising in connec- 

 tion with my other poultry. I started with all the advice 

 I could obtain from those who had had experience in that 



