Entered as Second-Class Matter. June 28. 1871*. at the Post 
Office at New York. N. Y., under the Act of March 3. 1370. 
No. 4084 
NEW YORK. APRIL 1. 1922 
Yoi.. LXXXI. 
Published Weekly -by The Rural Publiehiu* 
333 W. 30th St., New York Price One Dollar a 
Turkey Breeding in the North 
S IGNS OF SPUING.—At this season of the year, 
when the first warm ray of sunlight streaks 
across the landscape, where for months before it 
could not penetrate, the old gobbler usually gets liis 
first “hunch" that Spring is on the way. and pro- 
reeds to lower his big wings, stretch his neck, and 
with spreading fan and reddening face announces 
the arrival of mating time. Nothing can give me 
the thrill on the farm like this wavering old gentle 
man as lie struts in circles and gobbles delight to all 
the inmates of the barnyard where he proclaims 
himself king of all he surveys. 
DISEASE YIELDING TO TREATMENT—The 
breeding of the turkey is, in part, regaining the 
popularity which it was forced to abandon in a 
There are other diseases of turkeys which are 
wrongly called blackhead, and we have found that 
these latter ailments can he kept at bay or warded 
oft by careful attention and a more thorough study 
of the bird, its habits, etc. 
CHANGED ENVIRONMENT—In a wild state 
the turkey was the most free of any living bird from 
sickness. Take him from his native woodlands, 
place him under the molding hand of man in a state 
of domestication, feed different food and compel him 
to live a retired life, and we have a different propo¬ 
sition on our hands. Any bird or animal will adapt 
himself to conditions, but this only to a limited ex¬ 
tent. By selection and breeding we can produce 
almost any size, shape or color which we may seek 
very rapidly recover and gain strength enough in a 
short time to put them in full breeding condition, 
and this, too, without grain, other than that 
which must have lain under the snow over Winter, 
which is softened by the elements, and therefore 
must have been undergoing a change of natural sub¬ 
stance. The main foods iu Spring are insect life 
and green sprouts of many kinds, which must con¬ 
tain the proper elements for recuperation. 
OUTDOOR TREATMENT.—Our section is the 
Northern Adirondack*. aud our turkeys roost in the 
open all Winter long, no matter how cold it gets. 
It is true that in a section as cold as this we can 
feed more heating foods, such as corn, than would be 
the case in places farther south. While young tur- 
.1 White Holland Tom and a Boy as Nurse for Youny Turkeys 
gt<od many places on account of the diseases which 
Lave been so prevalent in the past few years. Black- 
head is of course the worst form of disease that can 
ci-mc to the lloeks. but like any other epidemic, it is 
hoped at least that ii will disappear as quickly as 
it came, though this still remains to be seen. The 
ipecac treatment, which we are trying out, has not 
•given the expected results, though we have not really 
l*ad the opportunity to give it a thorough trial, our 
birds, in the main, having been quite free from any 
attacks, except in a very mild form. All turkeys so 
affected do not die of the disease, and while we are 
putting a good deal of stress on this late treatment 
prescribed by Dr. Wegeforth, we still believe that 
prevention plays far more important parts than 
medicine. However, if the treatment proves suc¬ 
cessful. or even hut partially so, it will tie a great 
tiling toward eliminating much of the trouble in dis¬ 
tricts where it has gained extensive proportions. 
to perpetuate, but in the main the disposition of the 
turkey will ever remain the same, and the nearer 
wo approach to his normal habits the nearer we are 
coming to success in his reproduction. 
WINTER CAKE.—One of the worst mistakes that 
most farmers make with their turkeys is that they 
are too good to them through the Winter. They are 
kept housed, fed on corn mostly, entirely so by some 
breeders, and are therefore more susceptible to var¬ 
ious ailments than would be the ease if we were not 
so kind. It is natural for all wild birds that live in a 
varying climate to become thin in flesh toward the 
end of Winter, which ns you know always precedes 
the breeding season. Conditions force them to be¬ 
come so. Their abundant food supply is cut off by 
cold weather ami heavy snows, and they must there¬ 
fore subsist on whatever material is most conven¬ 
iently at hand. When mating time arrives they are 
tliin in flesh, but as they approach bare ground they 
keys are tender when very young, they continue to 
grow hardy as they grow older, until when fully 
fledged they are as hardy as the old birds, and by 
the beginning of the first Winter they are able to 
endure as much cold and stand as many hardships 
as their parents. 
TIIE LAYING SEASON.—At the approach of the 
laying season cut out all corn feeding and put the 
birds on a diet of oats and dry mash same as you 
would feed to laying hens through the breeding sea¬ 
son. If confined to yards (aud you will find it to 
jour advantage to do so) they must be furnished 
with a certain amount of meat food, and this we 
ba.e found to be well supplied by the commercial 
beet scraps, the same as we buy for poultry. If 
confined to yards you will get more eggs and hatch 
more birds than you will if allowed to run at large, 
although free range for laying turkeys is ideal 
where their natural enemies can be kept under con- 
