216 



Raising Turhies. — Irrigation of Gardens. 



Vol. X. 



Raising Tnrkies. 



Soon after the turkey-poults have acquired 

 their first feathers, they are liable to a dis- 

 ease which is very Iktal to them, if not at- 

 tended to. This distemper produces great 

 debility, and the birds appear languid and 

 drooping, and almost totally neglect their 

 food. Their tajl and wing-feathers assume 

 a whitish appearance, and their plumage has 

 a bristled aspect. This is occasioned by a 

 disease in two or three of the rump-feathers. 

 On examination the tubes of these will be 

 found filled with blood. The only remedy 

 for this disease is to pluck them out, when 

 the bird will speedily acquire its wonted 

 health and spirits. 



In fattening turkeys for the table, various 

 methods are resorted to. Some feed them 

 on barley meal mixed with skim-milk, and 

 confine them a-coop during this time; others 

 merely confine them to a house; while a 

 third class allow them to run quite at lib 

 erty; which latter practice, from the expe- 

 rience of those on whose judgment we can 

 most rely, is by far the best method. Care 

 should, however, be taken to feed them 

 abundantly before they are allowed to range 

 about in tlie morning, and a meal should 

 also be prepared for them at mid-day, to 

 which they will generally repair homeward 

 of their own accord. They should be fed 

 at night, before roosting, with oat-meal and 

 skim-milk ; and a day or two previous to 

 their being killed, they should get oats ex 

 clusively. We have found, from experience, 

 that when turkeys are purchased for the 

 table, and cooped up, they will never in- 

 crease in bulk, however plentifully they 

 may be supplied with food and fresh water, 

 but, on the contrary, are very liable to lose 

 flesh. When feeding them for use, a change 

 of food will also be found beneficial. Boiled 

 carrots and Swedish turnips, or potatoes 

 mixed with a little barley or oat-meal, will 

 be greedily taken by them. A cruel method 

 is practiced by some to render turkeys very 

 fat, which is termed cramming. This is 

 done by forming a paste of crumbs of bread, 

 flour, minced suet, and sweet milk, or even 

 cream, into small balls about the "bulk of a 

 marble, which is passed over the throat after 

 full ordinary meals. — Farmers' Library. 



Lime has been used in agriculture many 

 hundred years, and on every variety of soil, 

 and always with beneficial effects, when judi- 

 ciously applied. In England, recently, large 

 tracts of country, w^hich had been rented 

 with difficulty at 5 shillings per acre, have 

 been rendered worth 30 or 40 shillings per 

 acre, by the application of lime alone. 



Irrigation of Gardens. 



We do not know- that this has ever been 

 practiced systematically or on an extended 

 scale ; although there are certainly facts 

 enough to show its advantages. The prac- 

 tice of the Dutch gardeners in fieely and 

 constantly watering many of their vegetable 

 crops, and their consequent fine growth, are 

 well known. During the present season we 

 had a row of red Antv/erp raspberries which 

 exhibited the same influence in a strong 

 light. A part of the row stood under the 

 eves of a woodhouse and on the north side 

 of the building, and another part stood in 

 open ground, away from the drippings, but 

 from its advantageous position was subjected 

 to much' freer cultivatiou. But the influ- 

 ence of the water from the roof upon the 

 plants was very striking throughout the 

 summer, and at the present time — mid-au- 

 tumn — these are at least triple the size of 

 the others in open ground. 



S. Williams, of Waterloo, whose garden 

 was clayey, during the dry hot weather a 

 few years ago, let in the water through 

 small gutters, between the hills and rows of 

 vegetables. "Its genial influence," says he, 

 "was instantaneous; in ten days, my early 

 potatoes grew two-thirds in size; in fact, I 

 had never been able to get anything like a 

 fair yield of potatoes in this garden before. 

 Cucumbers grew equally fast; even beans 

 and marrowfat peas bore testigiony to its 

 quickening power." Mcintosh mentions 

 another case of the benefit of water upon 

 strawberries. Strawberry-beds, three feet 

 wide, were kept watered by trenches be- 

 tween them, about nine inches wide, the 

 trenches bemg lined with brick, forming 

 four-inch walls on each side, and the depth 

 equal to two or three courses of brick. 

 They were laid without mortar, and were 

 for the purpose of preserving the sides of 

 the trenches and for neatness. Water was 

 supplied by a pump, when the ground was 

 dry and the plants were in fruit. "A 7nuch 

 greater crop was thus oblaiiied, and the 

 plants continued bearing much longer than 

 in beds where there were no trenches for 

 water." This was in the cool and moist 

 climate of England. How much more strik- 

 ing would the results be in this country. 



There is-not the slightest question that 

 where water is at command, either from 

 streams, ponds, by pumping with hand or 

 elevating by wind", the finest results would 

 be produced. The water might be distri- 

 buted by means of trenches, as already de- 

 scribed, or by hose furnished with a nose 

 like that of a watering pot: the latter would, 

 doubtless, be much the best and most- conve- 



