TURKEY GROWING — VARIETIES OF TURKEYS. 43 



LESSON V. 



Turkey Growing. 



THE turkey is the one common domestiu fowl that seems to be utterly unadapted to con- 

 finement. The guinea (owl has much the same roving disposition and fretfuines* 

 under restrictions, but guinea fowls are by no means common. Geese, as we have 

 seen, are much easier grown when given freedom and good pasturage, yet they m;cy 

 be grown without much difficulty in confinement. Instances of turkeys successfully grown in 

 close quarters are extremely rare, and most of the successful growers of turkeys give them 

 practically unlimited range. 



The bulk of tlie turkey crop of this country comes from the large grain growing and genera) 

 farms of the central west and southwest. There Is a very limited area in Khode Island where 

 most of the farmers grow turkeys, and some grow a good many. In Vermont a good many 

 turkeys are grown. The other New England states produce practically none, while through 

 the Middle states the turkey product is light and scattering. In the grain growing sections of 

 the west and southwest, turkeys, though not as generally kept as chickens, are very abundant, 

 and probably more than nine-tenths of the entire turkey product marketed comes from these 

 sections. 



On these farms a flock of turkeys will forage far and wide, and if not too large, will pick the 

 greater part of its living until the time comes to fatten in the fall. Under such circumstances 

 there is generally a good profit in turkey growing unless losses are very heavy. 



The matter of advising turkey culture for farmers or poultrymen located on farms where 

 turkey growing is not common, is one that requires to be handled with caution, and calls for 

 deliberate consideration on the part of those most interested. In some sections where turkeys 

 were once generally grown their culture has l)eeu abandoned because of the prevalence of 

 disease among them. In other places, where the natural conditions seem favorable to turkey 

 growing the natural enemies of the turkey are too numerous. Again, where the farms are 

 large enough in area they may be of such proportions that it is impossible to allow a flock of 

 turkeys liberty without their being somewhat of an annoyance to neighbors. 



Varieties of Turkeys. 



Our domestic turkeys are all supposed to be descendants of the wild turkey still found in its 

 wild state in many places on this^continent. The wild turkeys are hunted as game; are often 

 captured, and have been quite extensively crossed with the domestic races to restore the vigor 

 of worn out stocks. In appearance the wild turkey resembles the Bronze turkey more closely 

 than any other tame variety, and by some the Bronze turkey is regarded as simply a domesti- 

 cated stock of the native wild turkey, modified and improved as la usual when wild stocks of 

 any kind are given the more favorable conditions for development which are found under 

 domestication with good care and liberal feeding. 



Bronze Turkeys are the largest, hardiest, and by far the most popular of the varieties. An 

 adult cock sometimes weighs over 50 lbs., though the Standard weights are much lower, i. e., 



