ESSEX SOCIETY. 103 



lost in one night last spring, the entire brood of a common hen, 

 consisting of fourteen very early chickens ; a rat or a weasel, 

 well skilled in the art of mining, had burrowed under the sides 

 of their house and made a clean sweep of them. The floor of 

 the turkey house may be covered with fine hay, which should 

 be frequently renewed for purposes of cleanliness. The cleaner 

 the chicks are kept, the less liable are they to be infested with 

 lice. I know of no remedy for this evil. Fat or oil rubbed on 

 the chicks, is said to be effectual, considering, in this, as in 

 most of the disorders to which poultry are subject, an ounce 

 of prevention worth a pound of cure. 



As the chicks grow, they will need larger supplies of food. 

 Curd and thick skim milk are good articles of diet. But here 

 let me caution against giving any salt with the food of young 

 turkeys. A farmer in my neighborhood lost his whole flock, of 

 forty or more, merely by feeding them once on skim milk, 

 which had been salted. So far as I have observed, salt may be 

 safely left before turkeys and other fowls, when they have at- 

 tained to some size, as it is to be found on barn floors all win- 

 ter, where the hay has been salted. But it would seem, from 

 the above fact, that the crops of young turkeys are not adapted 

 to its use. The books mention certain other articles as injuri- 

 ous to them, marrowfat peas in particular, but I have never 

 known any ill effects to turkeys from this description of pea, 

 nor can I see why it should be poisonous to them more than 

 the other varieties. For drink, let them be supplied with water, 

 placed in shallow vessels. 



After a few weeks, the young brood may be allowed to ac- 

 company the mother in her rambles, with full liberty to go 

 where she pleases, giving her the range of a pasture if practi- 

 cable. They will soon learn to forage for insects, which pro- 

 mote their health and thriftiness. Dry summers make large 

 turkeys ; the weather is almost uniformly favorable to their 

 rambling, and grasshoppers are plenty. But in wet seasons 

 they thrive less rapidly ; they find fewer insects, and lose many 

 days in remaining idle. A flock of turkeys, in foraging for 

 food, spread themselves at some distance apart, and thus ad- 

 vance, devouring in their course every insect on which they 



