276 
'fHE POULTRY BOOK. 
the turkey-hoiisG not ho perfectly free from dampness, then it will be best to have 
the nests in that apartment of the fowl-house occupied by the breeding fowls ; but 
should the turkey-house be all that can be desired, then I would either advise the 
exclusion of the cock, or the dividing of the house into two parts, similar to the 
fowl-house. I must here repeat my conviction of the necessity of having the 
hatching nests in the apartment in which are the laying nests. 
Turkeys should be so fed as to be ever ready for the spit. This is my practice, 
and I always procure the best prices in the market — not for them only, but for 
all sorts of poultry ; it would be useless to say more. However, I should remark 
that many people, after harvest, turn the turkeys into the adjoining stubble fields, 
where they pick up a great deal which would be wasted. From the position of our 
farm-buildings we have not been able to do this, and therefore cannot give a 
decided opinion on the practice.” 
Having given these practical directions on the management of turkeys, as fol- 
lowed in England, from the pen of so good an authority, we wish, in contrast to the 
English method of rearing and feeding, to insert the following, on the continental 
methods, from an account communicated to the Imperial Society of Acclimatisation 
by M. Le Hocteur Sacc, who writes 
“ For the hatching, I use willow baskets, the bottoms of which are covered with 
stra^v, moss, or heath. On which I lay a bed of hay carefully crushed, so that tho 
nest shall not bo too deep, which exposes the eggs to the risk of being broken by 
rolling against each other, and hinders the bird from v/arming them equally. 
Alongside of the baskets, within reach of the hatchers, are two troughs, the one full 
of oats, tho other of water; and every twenty-four hours the turkey is lifted off her 
eggs that she may roll in the dust to get rid of the vermin. In five or six minutes 
the indefatigable sitter returns to her eggs, which, according to the surrounding 
temperature, are hatched from the 27th to the 30th day. I have always seen 
them hatched in the course of the 28th, because I kept my hatchers in a very 
warm and dry room. This hatching place is in general much the best in our 
temperate and humid regions ; but when the summer is scorching it dries the eggs 
too much, and causes the chicks to remain glued to the shell ; an inconvenience to 
bo obviated by slightly sprinkling the eggs with water whenever tho turkey leaves 
the nest. The hatching place should be sheltered from draughts, from noise, and 
direct and powerful light. 
‘‘As soon as the chicks appear, the fowls are no longer touched; but, twenty- 
four hours after, I place alongside of the nest some handfuls of very fine hay, on 
which I set the mother, losing no time in giving her her chicks, which one after 
the other are slipped under her. 
“During the first eight days the little ones are fed on eggs boiled hard and 
minced ; during the second, I add to this bread-crumbs chopped with nettles, 
parsley, and onions. During the third week I keep back the eggs, and only con- 
tinue tho bread and the vegetables ; then instead of the bread I give moistened 
meal, boiled peas, and above all, millet, of which young turkeys are very fond. 
