13 ^ 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Unurimn Agriculturist* 
New-York, Wednesday, May 10, 1854. 
Bound Volumes.—W e have a few sets (26 
numbers) of volume eleventh, bound and un¬ 
bound. The price, at the office, of the unbound 
volumes is $1.00. The bound volumes are neatly 
put up in cloth covers, gilt backs, at $1.50. 
We can also furnish the covers separately, 
gilt and all ready for putting in the paper, for 
twenty-five cents each. With the covers thus 
prepared, any bookbinder can complete the 
binding for twenty-five cents. Volumes sent to 
the,office will be bound complete for fifty cents. 
We are having printed a new edition of the 
first ten annual volumes of the monthly Agri¬ 
culturist, which can be supplied for $1.25 per 
volume or $10 for the set of ten volumes. 
Back Numbers. —We have taken the precau¬ 
tion to print each week a large number of extra 
copies,'so that we can still supply new subscri¬ 
bers with full sets from the beginning of this 
volume, (March 15.) Any copies accidentally 
lost by a subscriber, will be freely supplied. 
Specimen copies sent to any person, whose ad¬ 
dress is furnished post-paid. 
-* •»- 
BREEDING TURKEYS. 
Every turkey breeder is not aware of it, but 
it is a fact, that of either sex, one old turkey is 
worth two yearlings for rearing young ones. 
A turkey does not arrive at its full growth and 
maturity till the next fall after two years old, 
and of consequence, to its full strength and 
vigor for breeding in the best possible manner. 
The continual repetition of keeping young gob¬ 
blers and pullets for breeding, as some people 
do, reduces the size of their young until they 
arrive at scarcely half the weight they should do. 
Besides this, the young of these immature birds 
are exceedingly tender, and much more difficult 
to raise than those of ohl birds. We have tried 
this thing thoroughly, and are convinced of the 
difference. 
Were we to choose our birds for the very 
best breeding, both cocks and hens should not 
be less than three years old, and then the cock 
should be from a different stock from the hens. 
We think turkeys bear breeding from close affi¬ 
nities less successfully than any other fowl—at 
least we have found it so—and we would never 
breed a cock to hens which were closely related, 
if it could be helped. 
Another thing, we prefer to let every hen set 
upon her own eggs, and with the first laying of 
the season. She hatches them better than a 
barn-door hen, and is the most natural and satis¬ 
factory mother. We have repeatedly set the 
first laying of eggs under the common hen, and 
turned the turkey out for a second clutch of 
eggs, on which she sat herself. But these sec¬ 
ond chicks are apt to be weaker than the first, 
and so late as not to obtain a fair growth before 
cold weather sets in—in fact, not worth half 
price. The turkey is a natural bird in all its 
habits, domesticated from a wild state, and yet 
retaining the constitutional propensities of its 
original race. Therefore the young should be 
reared in their proper season, when the varieties 
of food they are partial to are the most abun¬ 
dant. Every young turkey should be out of the 
shell by the middle of June, at the latest, which 
gives them full time to get up to good size by 
“Thanksgiving,” and fat and juicy by Christ¬ 
mas. 
In corroboration of our remarks, there were 
turkeys exhibited at the late Poultry Show at 
the American Museum, in this city, which 
weighed 30) pounds the cock, and 18 pounds 
the hen. These were extraordinaiy birds, to 
be sure, but they were well bred, and of full 
age and growth—and not wild turkies, either. 
Mr. John Giles, of Woodstock, Ct,, sent us a 
cock turkey a few weeks ago, which weighs 33 
pounds,—a giant of a fellow,—and he walks 
the poultry-yard with the measured tread of an 
emperor. We shall see whether we cannot in¬ 
crease the size and excellence of our turkeys by 
choice breeding. At the English shows they 
have got turkeys up to 40 pounds weight; and 
it will be a poor story, if, in the native country 
of the bird, with our fine, dry climate, and 
abundance of food, we cannot get him up to the 
standard of a climate less favorable to his de¬ 
velopment. 
Many people suppose that the wild turkey is 
larger than the tame one. This is not so. Ex¬ 
traordinary exceptions have been found, when, 
in the height of the nutting season, with the 
wild bird at its fattest, a veteran gobbler has 
been shot that weighed 30 pounds or more. 
But well bred, at the same age, and in like con¬ 
dition, the tame turkey is the larger bird. We 
would, however, for a fresh cross, and to give 
the domestic turkeys additional stamina, prefer 
a dash of wold blood among them. It is won¬ 
derful to see the invigorating influences of the 
wild blood upon the tame in the first progeny. 
The style of the bird, in figure, plumage, ac¬ 
tion—all are changed. A degree of self-reli¬ 
ance is added to the young things as they creep 
and dodge among the leaves, “shirking for 
themselves.” One single cross is sufficient— 
that is—half blood. More than that, is apt to 
give them shy and rambling habits, as it takes 
several generations of domestication to make 
the wild turkey thoroughly tame. 
The wild turkey is truly a noble bird. Stand¬ 
ing erect upon the ground, surrounded by his 
harem of females; proud, defiant, confiding in 
his own strength and prowess; his gorgeous, 
metallic plumage glistening in the sun, no living- 
bird is equal to him. Even the Peacock, in all 
its attributes of beauty, will not rank with him. 
No wonder that Audobon grew eloquent, grand, 
and enthusiastic over his description. 
As to color—the natural—that of the wild is 
the most to our taste. We have tried all colors. 
Light colored birds are apt to be less hardy 
than dark, and flesh less rich in appearance. 
Still, color is not essential, when the bird is, in 
all else, satisfactory. 
- • O • - 
An Inland Grain Fleet.— On the 26th of 
April a fleet of nineteen vessels, (three barks, 
six brigs, and ten schooners,) all freighted with 
grain, sailed from Chicago, III., for Buffalo, and 
for Oswego, via. Welland Canal. They were 
loaded with more than a quarter of a million 
bushels of grain, including 208,000 bushels of 
corn, and 33,000 bushels of wheat. More than 
four-fifths of this grain went to Buffalo. 
THE FIRST FAIR OF THE CONNECTICUT 
STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
A State Society is at length organized in this 
good old State, and the fair is to be held at 
New-IIaven next fall. Twenty-five hundred 
dollars have been raised by the city to meet its 
expenses. The name of the Hon. Edward 
Everett has been mentioned in connection 
with the address on the occasion. No pains 
will be spared to make the fair worthy of the 
State. It is proposed to have a Board of Agri¬ 
culture for the State, and a secretary to give all 
his time to the work of agricultural improve¬ 
ment. The cause as much needs such an agent, 
as education needs a commissioner of schools; 
and it is hoped that the farming interest will 
soon have such an advocate as the school inter¬ 
est has found in the Hon. Henry Barnard. 
Not less than twenty-five hundred dollars will 
be needed to support such an office, which it is 
proposed to raise, and we have little doubt that 
this will be done. Connecticut is not a State to 
overlook what will be so much to her pecuniary 
advantage. 
- 4 6 4 - 
WEBSTER’S DICTIONARY, 
If we were asked by one just beginning to 
collect a library, what books should first be se¬ 
lected, we should unhesitatingly answer, let the 
first book be the Bible, and the second Webster’s 
Dictionary—not a small pocket edition, but the 
best and most complete edition yet published, 
viz., the one issued by the Messrs. G. & C. Mer- 
riam, of Springfield, Mass. 
The ordinary term Dictionary conveys a very 
imperfect idea of the work referred to. Ency¬ 
clopedia would be a better word. There is 
hardly a word or term used in the whole circle 
of our language which is not here elucidated. 
To give the spelling and simple definition of a 
word is but a small part of the scope of this 
book. Almost every scientific term or phrase 
in use, is so fully and plainly described, as to 
bring it to the comprehension of the humblest 
scholar or reader. We have frequently turned 
over the leaves of one book of reference after 
another, in a vain search for the meaning of some 
scientific term which was new to us, and then 
have found all we desired in reference to it 
plainly stated in this dictionary. 
We think the Messrs. Merriam deserve the 
thanks of the country for ihe manner in which 
they have brought out this work. It contains 
1400 large pages, in good substantial binding, and 
yet the highest retail price asked for it is only six 
dollars. Twenty-five dollars could in no other 
way be expended to gather so much general in¬ 
formation. Let every farmer, and every other 
person who can do so, have a copy of this book 
upon his table; and let it not be laid away in 
the parlor to be admired by an occasional visi¬ 
tor, but let it be kept in the most convenient 
place of access, where it may be daily referred 
to and studied. When a newspaper or book 
presents a word not entirely understood, let this 
dictionary be opened, and it will pretty surely 
make all plain. 
Several States have furnished their public 
schools with a copy of this work, and we sin¬ 
cerely hope every other State will follow the ex¬ 
ample. In several instances where this book 
has not been furnished by the usual school 
funds, "we have taken a subscription paper, and 
