RAISING TURKEYS. 203 
GENERAL HINTS ABOUT TURKEYS. 
The greatly increased attention paid to the turkey 
crop in the Eastern States, and in the Southern and 
Western States as- well, seems to call for a few more 
notes. Without a good range it will not pay to raise tur- 
keys; they create trouble between neighbors. I have 
found that, when confined to a yard, one turkey will re- 
quire as much food to bring it to maturity as will make 
forty pounds of pork on a well-bred pig. Where they 
can have extensive range, they will pick up most of the 
fuvod they require until autumn. The young are very 
delicate, and the hen must be cooped until they are well 
feathered and able to look out for themselves. The same 
food recommended for chicks is suitable for turkeys. 
Two weeks before marketing, confine them in a small, 
clean pen, and feed them all they will eat, not forgetting 
plenty of fresh water and gravel, and they will fatten up 
quickly and nicely. 
TURKEY-NESTS.' 
In the wild state the hen seeks the most secluded and 
inaccessible spot, where there is protection from birds 
and beasts of prey. Security against attack is the main 
thing that instinct prompts her to look out for. A tan- 
gled thicket of briers, a sheltering ledge, a hollow 
stump, a clump of brush filled with decaying leaves, 
suit her fancy. With little preparation she drops her 
eggs upon the bare ground in these secluded places. 
_ Domesticated turkeys usually are left to a good deal of 
freedom in choosing their nests. Some farmers have 
prepared nests, made of loose stones and boards, or old 
barrels, placed by the roadside, or near the barn, and 
