PRIZE ESSAYS ON TURKEY CULTURE. 149 



If you have boys that are handy, have them make you 

 a runway for the hen, with lath, although I have never 

 had mine fixed that way. I move the coop where the hen 

 can reach the grass, sometimes pull it and feed it to her, 

 and also furnish her with sand and gravel. Where you let 

 the little turkeys run with the common hens, you can al- 

 low the hens their liberty on fine days, after they become 

 accustomed to the coop, for they will return to the coop at 

 night, but I have never been able to make the turkey hens 

 do so. If they once get free, they will sneak away and 

 stay till the turkeys are quite old, and generally lose most 

 of them. I had one turkey hen, shut in a box as de- 

 scribed, and she raised twenty-one nice turkeys, and that 

 was in 1892, when it rained so much. 



THE PENNSYLVANIA SYSTEM. 



MRS. A. CLARKE, CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



Having been in the turkey business for a long time, I 

 find that the best results are secured by careful attention 

 to the following points : First I take care that the par- 

 ent birds are not related, never keeping over male and fe- 

 males from the same flock. 



Second Experiments have proven that eggs laid by 

 turkeys two or three years old produce stronger and larger 

 turkeys than those of the yearlings. 



Third Instead of allowing the turkeys to steal their 

 nests, and hatch their broods where and when they like, 

 I prepare large nests in convenient out-of-the-way places, 

 and I find that the turkeys usually take kindly to them, 

 and seem to appreciate the favor. However, if one shows 

 a disposition to pick out a place for herself, I manage, if 

 possible, to give her an outfit, in the shape of an old box, 

 with a freshly cut sod and a little straw in the bottom, 

 and a few boards for shelter, and allow her to remain. 

 Then, taking charge of the fresh-laid eggs, I keep them 

 carefully, until I have enough to set two turkeys and two 



