' 176 [Assembly 



bran also contains considerable of it. Buckwheat and barley are 

 all good, propel ly managed. Scraps of meat from the table, cut 

 up with the fat of mutton, veal, &c. 



Indian corn, the turkies love better in any stage of growth, and 

 seem to do better on it, than any of the breadstuff grains; this 

 love for it has descended to them from their earliest progenitors, 

 this has for ages grown wild in the forests of America, or culti- 

 vated by the Indians, and both the corn and the turkey, no doubt, 

 natives of this continent. The corn could at all seasons, when it 

 was fit, be approached by the turkies and consumed without any 

 hindrance ; this, with its nutritious qualities and fine flavor, no 

 doubt, made these wild birds, ages ago, so attached to it, and that 

 same love of it has been transmitted to their degenerate descend- 

 ants of the present day. The best way perhaps, or one of the 

 best ways to regenerate these last to a certain extent, would be 

 to give them a little corn meal, boiled in sweet milk, two or three 

 days after they left the shell, and go on increasing it a little, as 

 they gain size and strength. Onr people differ considerably in 

 managing young turkies when they first come, as they do in many 

 other things ; all we can do, is to give advice according to our 

 own views and the best of sources of information, derived from 

 books and practical men. 



Rearing, Keeping and Fattening. After the young turkies get 

 nearly or quite half grown, they begin, under the guardianship 

 of the old one, to work a little for themselves, in the w^ay of 

 procuring food; they frequent the fields and grounds adjoining 

 the house, eat grass, buds and seeds of young early plants ; begin 

 to catch insects, worms, bugs, &c., and with adroitness. Until 

 the season gets a little advanced, though, they should be kept 

 about the homestead as much as possible, induced to roost near 

 it; this can be effected by a little feed, thrown to them every 

 evening when they come home. After they get more than half 

 grown, they will begin their rambles .farther from the house, and 

 continue them the season through ; it is in vain to try to check 

 them in this, nor would it be right to do it ; it is one of the habits 

 inherent in them ; their health as well as sustenance requires it. 

 In this they are of use to the owner, in picking \xp a good deal 



