132 MRS. BASLEY'S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK 



"A diet of part corn agrees with chickens, but I have never yet 

 fed corn in any form to young turkeys but that sooner or later they 

 would give up the unequal contest. A little neighbor girl that had 

 a great deal of the care of turkeys said the least little bit of corn 

 meal makes them die. She had learned this by watching them as 

 she fed them." 



1100 Gleaning Wheat 



It was my privilege to visit a turkey ranch in the San Joaquin 

 Valley some time ago and what I saw there made me wonder that 

 there are so few large turkey ranches in California. 



There were over 1100 beautiful turkeys gleaning the wheat over 

 many acres of stubble. These great turkeys had been hatched near 

 the barn in shed-like coops, under turkey hens. They were kept 

 in the yard until about five or six weeks old, when they were driven 

 out with their mothers upon the wheat stubble to rustle for their 

 living, to pick up the wheat that would otherwise be lost. All these 

 turkeys roosted in the open air and to this and the simple life, 

 working for and finding their own living, may be attributed their 

 healthiness. 



There are many beautiful valleys in California where turkeys 

 may be grown to great advantage by the hundreds and even thou- 

 sands, but even on small ranches a few may be kept. 



Turkey Lore 



With the coming of the fall our thoughts turn turkeyward and 

 letters come to the writer telling of the fine success almost every 

 one has had this year with their turkeys. However, some are also 

 finding that the luck which has been theirs all the summer is now 

 slipping away, and some of those want to know the reason why. 

 Mrs- Chas. Jones, the turkey expert, explains this very plainly in 

 one of her interesting talks. She says, "To understand any branch 

 of poultry culture, one must know their nature and requirements. 

 The turkey is the only bird or animal that has previously existed 

 in a wild state that has been domesticated to the extent of being 

 raised on farms from the Pacific to the Atlantic and from British 

 Columbia to the Gulf of Mexico. They may be raised further 

 north, but I have no authentic account of the fact. The prairie 

 chicken has never been domesticated. Occasionally wild geese and 

 ducks have been raised, but the turkey stands alone as a wild bird 

 domesticated, and because people have not studied into their wild 

 nature and what their diet consisted of in their wild state, they have 

 failed to raise more than a small part that are hatched. 



When the turkeys roamed over the forests at the time this 

 country was inhabited by Indians, very little corn was raised. A 

 few beans constituted the grain crop, and as the Indians were too 

 lazy to raise the corn themselves, and put the work on the squaws, 

 who had the young braves in the form of papooses to pack around 

 on their backs, and all the domestic duties to look after and keep 

 their wigwams in order, they did not raise corn enough to glut the 

 market and the turkeys had to look elsewhere for their food than 



