Povuurry. 139 
to say the breed is difficult to rear, than to acknowledge at once 
that negligence, unskillfulness, and barbarity are the causes.” 
The principal requisites for the successful rearing of turkeys, 
according to the experienced author of the “Poulterer’s Com- 
panion,” are: ; 
1. Good Hod to breed from, both male and female. Both 
should be large and fully grown. They ought to be at least 
two years old. 
2. Fresh blood, secured by changing the cock every year. 
8. Good keeping through the winter. 
4, No unnecessary interference with the process of incuba- 
tion, which lasts four weeks. 
5. Shelter; protection, and careful feeding of the chicks for a 
few weeks, after which the mother may be liberated from the 
coop to lead them out. 
Curd chopped fine, crumbs of bread softened in water or 
milk, are good for their first food; but they will soon eat any- 
thing that is:fit for the parent turkey, except unbroken grain. 
Early in the fall they should be fed night and morning with 
dry corn; and when the weather becomes colder they may 
profitably be supplied at frequent intervals with boiled potatoes, 
mashed with corn meal and skimmed ‘milk, given to them 
warm, On this diet they will grow and fatten rapidly. 
The turkey is an out-door bird and requires, at most, only an 
open shed for shelter during severe storms, and even this will 
seldom be occupied if a good tree beat hand. They have not 
yet acquired all the effeminate artificial habits of the domestic 
fowl. 
The critical periods with the turkey are about the third day 
after they are hatched, and when they have thrown out the 
“red head,” as it is called, which they do when about six weeks 
old. To carry them safely through the first, avoid overfeeding, 
and secure them against unfavorable changes of temperature. 
Tn the latter case, give them a plenty of food, and render it as 
nutritious as possible by ‘adding boiled eggs, wheaten grits, 
bruised hemp seed, or bruised beans. 
