180 TSE COMPLETE POVLTMY BOOK. 



is left upon rocks, or in troughs, where cattle and sheep are salted in the 

 pastures. I notice that along the sea-board, where it is not the custom to salt 

 cattle, turkeys succeed much better than they do farther back. This may be 

 one reason of the large reputation of Ehode-Island turkeys. The whole State 

 is exposed to the sea air, and the pastures where the birds ramble are free from 

 salt licks. Put your refuse salt where the turkeys cannot find it. 



"Bow to EaOen JWieys.— Nothing pays better to be sent to market in prime 

 condition than the turkey crop. Many farmers do not understand this. Their- 

 turkeys grow on a limited range, get little or no food at home through the sum- 

 mer, and if fed at all with regularity, it is only for two or three weeks before 

 killing. I see, these lean, bony carcasses in the local markets every winter, and 

 feel sorry for the owner's loss. They have received a small price for their birds, 

 and a still poorer price for the food fed out. The average life of a turkey is 

 only seven months, and the true economy of feeding is to give the chicks all 

 they can digest from the shell to the slaughter. If they get all they can eat pn 

 thf range that is well. Usually this should be supplemented by regular rations 

 when they come from the roost in the morning, and two or three hours before 

 thev go to roost at night. The food may be slack in the morning, so that they 

 will go to the range with go6d appetites, and fuller at night. They should be 

 put upon a regular course of fattening food as early as the middle of October, 

 when you purpose to kill the best birds at Thanksgiving. The youuger and 

 lighter birds should be reserved for the Christmas and New- Year's markets. 

 They continue growing quite rapidly until mid-winter, and you will be well 

 paid for the longer feeding. There is nothing better for fattening than old corn, 

 fed partly in the kernel and partly in cooked meal mashed up with boiled 

 potatoes. Feed three times a day, giving the warm meal in the morning, and 

 feeding in troughs with plenty of room, so that all the flock may have a fair 

 chance. Northern corn has more oil in it than southern, and is worth more for 

 turkey food. Use milk in fattening if you keep u dairy farm. Feed only so 

 much as they will eat up clean. Cultivate the acquaintance of j-our turkeys as 

 you feed them. No more charming sight greets your vision in the whole circle 

 of the year than a large flock of bronze turkeys coming at call from their roosts 

 on a frosty November morning. New corn is apt to make the bowels loose, and 

 this should be guarded against. There is usually green food enough in the 

 fields to meet their wants in the fall, an^ cabbage and turnips need not be added 

 until winter sets in. If the bowels get loose give them scalded milk, which will 

 generally correct the evil. Well-fattened and well-dressed turkeys will bring 

 two or three cents a pound more than the lean birds. It will not only be better 

 for the purse, but for your manhood, to send nothing but finished products to 

 the market." 



