X. 
ODDS AND ENDS. 
TURKEYS AS INCUBATORS AND CAPONS AS 
BROODERS. 
"[ HERE are a few people who make a success of 
hatching eggs and bringing up chicks by arti- 
ficial methods. Most of us, however, will find it 
easier and safer to stick to Mother Nature’s good 
old ways. It will not be anew thing to many of 
my readers when I tell them that a turkey hen can 
be utilized as an incubator. She can be made to 
sit at any time of the year, and for an almost in- 
definite length of time. We want early chicks, but 
cannot always succeed in getting them, simply be- 
cause our hens do not get broody 
Turkey Hen #6 early enough in the season. The 
turkey hen then comes as a deus ex 
machina. <A writer in Country Gentleman gives 
the following directions how to manage her: “Select 
a turkey hen in her second year; arrange a nest, in 
which put a number of eggs, either china or ordinary 
eggs filled with plaster of Paris. Place the 
turkey upon the nest, and cover her with a bar- 
rel, preferably one made for sugar, as it is lined 
with blue paper. This excludes the light; darkness 
