166 ESSAY ON REARING TURKEYS. 



But it is not my object to give directions as to farm manage- 

 ment in general, but to oiter some hints, deriv^ed principally 

 from experience, on the rearing of turkeys in particular. The 

 first grand requisite is, to have good stock to raise from, both 

 male and female. The cock turkey should be of a large size, 

 and as he does not attain to his full growth till he is two or 

 three years old, one of this age is to be preferred, though year- 

 lings are generally made to answer. The color I should 

 choose, would be jet black or bronze, with legs to match. The 

 books give directions as to the gait and mien deemed essential 

 to his perfection ; but there is little difficulty in finding a gob- 

 ler, whose strut is sufficiently martial to satisfy the most pre- 

 cise stickler for a military carriage. With tail erect, breast in- 

 flated, and head and throat inflamed, he marches, a perfect 

 Hayneau of the poultry-yard. The question is discussed, too, 

 in the books, as to the number of females that should consti- 

 tute his harem. But it is for us more of a theoretical than 

 practical one, as there are here hardly ever more hens allowed 

 to this feathered sultan, than can be suitably provided for by 

 him. A greater point is to prevent a deterioration of stock by 

 breeding in and in. The excellent rule given by Mrs. Sarah 

 Dakin, of Duchess County, N. Y., in a statement on the man- 

 agement of poultry, " Be sure and change the tom turkey ev- 

 ery year," is confirmed by the practice of the most successful 

 turkey rearers. A strong and healthy brood of chicks is thus 

 secured. 



With the same view, the largest hen turkeys — and if they 

 are more than a year old the better — should be reserved for 

 mothers. Those that are small in size Avill lay only small 

 eggs, from which the chicks hatched will be of corresponding 

 proportions. If you expect a large litter of eggs, the hens must 

 be well kept through the winter, but not so as to become very 

 fat, otherwise they will not lay so early as is desirable. If 

 they do not begin to lay till May, they Avfll not complete their 

 litter and be ready to sit till June, which will bring the hatch 

 into July ; and thus will be allowed for the growth of the 

 young brood only five months to the last of November, at 

 which period the annual turkey killing comes round in New 



