TUR 



TUR 



463 



In the north of England and 

 Scotland, turf is dug out of soft, 

 moist, rotten earth, which they call 

 peat moss. It is decayed moss 

 mixed with moory earth, and aqua- 

 tic grass roots. 



Some writers confound turf with 

 peat, as if they were the same sub- 

 stance. Peat consists of decayed 

 wood, large trees in a sound state 

 being often found in a peat soil, 

 and those that are changed into 

 peat retain their shape. Nut shells 

 and leaves are observed in it, which 

 indicate that peat was originally 

 wood. Turf is therefore quite a 

 different substance, of much less 

 value as fuel; and yields a weaker 

 kind of ashes. 



Turf also differs from peat, as in 

 places where turf is cut out it will 

 in some years be renewed ; but 

 this is not the case with peat, which 

 being once dug out is never renew- 

 ed. 



TURKEY, a large domestic 

 fowl, brought from Turkey, and is 

 called by the name of its country. 



As many of them are reared in 

 the farming towns in this country, 

 I shall here give directions from a 

 good writer, how it may be done 

 with success. 



" Most of our housewives, says a 

 Swedish author on husbandry, have 

 long despaired of success in rearing 

 turkies; and complained that the 

 profit rarely indennnfies them for 

 their trouble, and loss of time : 

 Whereas, continues he, little more 

 is to be done than to plunge the 

 chick into a vessel of cold water, 

 the very hour, or if that cannot be, 

 the day it is hatched, forcing it to 

 swallow one whole pepper corn, 



and then restoring it to its mother. 

 From that time it will become 

 hardy, and fear the cold no rrore 

 than a hen's chick. After which it 

 must be remembered, that these 

 useful creatures are subject to one 

 particular malady whilst they are 

 young, which carries them off in a 

 few days. When they begin to 

 droop, examine carefully the fea- 

 thers on their rumps, and you will 

 find two or three, whose quill part 

 is filled with blood. Upon draw- 

 ing these the chick recovers, and 

 after that requires no other care 

 than what is commonly bestowed 

 on poultry that range in the court 

 yard. 



" These articles are too true to 

 be denied ; and in proof of the suc- 

 cess, three parishes in Sweden 

 have, for many years, gained seve- 

 ral hundred pounds by rearing and 

 selling turkeys." — Rural Economy ^ 

 page 7S9. 



Buck wheat is accounted a good 

 food for turkeys ; but insects con- 

 tribute much to their living in sum- 

 mer. When grasshoppers are 

 plenty, they will fatten upon them. 



R. Weston, Esq. recommends 

 fatiening turkeys with walnuts, 

 given them whole. See his Tracts, 

 page 190. 



TURNIP, a white esculent root. 



The sorts, according to Mr. Mil- 

 ler, are three ; the ilat, or round 

 shaped turnip, the long-rooted, and 

 the French turnip. 



Of the first sort some are green 

 topped, otiiers red purple topped; 

 the yellow ; and tlie early Dutch 

 turnip, which are not of so much 

 vahie. The last sort is sown early 

 in the spring, to supply the markets 



