166 THE TURKEY. 



of the large birds that are brought to market are not 

 less than eighteen months old ; some double that age. 

 Nor are they the worse for it, provided the lady of the 

 house be informed of the circumstance, and so enabled 

 to leave a due interim between the killing and the 

 cooking. 



Almost every district or country, however, has a pe- 

 culiar mode of fattening turkeys, and everywhere it 

 depends on local resources. In one place, it is acorns, 

 hickory nuts, beech mast, or chestnuts, sometimes 

 boiled, and mixed with Indian or barley meal ; others 

 prefer to feed them, every morning, a mdnth previous 

 to killing, with boiled potatoes mashed with the meal 

 of buckwheat, barley, Indian corn, or beans, according 

 to their cheapness or abundance, made into a paste, of 

 which the turkeys are allowed to eat as much as they 

 please. Every evening, the remains of the paste is 

 removed, and thrown away ; the trough, or vessel, in 

 which it was kept, is thoroughly cleaned for the next 

 morning; because, if the weather.be warm, the paste 

 is liable to become sour, and endanger their health. 

 For eight days previous to slaughtering time, the tur- 

 keys are allowed, in the evening before going to roost, 

 a small quantity of barley or Indian-meal dough, 

 which, in the course of that period, will render them 

 exceedingly plump, delicious, and fat. 



It has been asserted, in fact proved, by a late trial 

 made on the farm of Mr. R. L. Colt, of Paters'on, New 

 Jersey, that turkeys fatten faster, and with less ex- 

 pense, by caponising- them, which, also, produces 

 better and sweeter flesh. But how far this will prove 

 profitable, future experiments will show. 



