ORDER GALLING. 159 



the others have laid all their eggs. Her desire may be. satis- 

 fied by giving her a hen's egg ; but it is an object that all 

 the young turkeys should come out together. When all the 

 females are ready to sit, a barn is got ready, with as many 

 nests as there are females. In each of these nests, placed 

 against the wall, eighteen eggs are to be put. If possible, 

 each turkey-hen should receive those which she herself has 

 laid. The windows of the place should be closed against the 

 light. The barn should be opened but once in twenty-four 

 hours, the hens taken off the nests, and given their food : after 

 which they should be replaced on the nests, and restored to 

 obscurity. 



On the twenty-sixth or twenty-seventh day, the keeper 

 should examine all the eggs, and if he find that the greatest 

 quantity of them indicate the prompt forthcoming of the 

 young animals, he should no more disturb the hens from their 

 nests. He may leave them without food until the turkey- 

 pouts have proceeded from the egg. This precaution is 

 absolutely necessary for the safety of the young, whose body, 

 always more or less wet, may dry from the heat imbibed from 

 the maternal bird ; for the access of cold would prove 

 mortal. 



When all the young turkeys are disclosed, the turkey-hens 

 should be raised from the nest, and food presented to them. 

 While they are thus employed in eating, the keeper should 

 join two broods together, and place them under a single hen, 

 so as to leave the cares of maternity to but half the number 

 of birds which have been sitting. The other half should be 

 carried into a second barn, where new nests, prepared, and 

 containing eggs of hens and ducks, are destined to be covered 

 by these turkey-hens, so as to derive the greatest possible 

 profit from the state of their temperament. 



The young turkey-pouts require much care and attention. 

 Warmth, shade, suitable food, and limpid water are capital 



