vol. xxvrr. n«. 20 .1 
WHOLE No. 1216. ) 
NEW YORK, AND ROCHESTER, N. Y, MAY 1 
( I*It ICE SIX CENTS 
1 #2.50 1'Elt YEAR. 
f Entered aoqordinK to Act of Congress, 
I). 'L'. Mooitw, in the offitio of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.] 
tor, I Iii.y benefit, auffothjerB interested 
we copy the 
following from, a correspondent of the Rural 
World :—For several years I had boon unsuc¬ 
cessful, when at last, becoming discouraged 
at repeated UxisttcceSs, I detei inini'd to aban¬ 
don the business, so 1 sold my turkeys and 
rested from my labors for a time. Rut 1 
noticed l, hat sonic of my neighbors succeeded 
pretty well in raising these birds, and from 
them I obtained a few hints, which 1 thought 
to put into practice. 80 last season L pur¬ 
chased a hen and a few eggs, determining this 
time that if I failed t would never make 
Another attempt. In a proper course of time 
the mother turkey brought off ten young 
birds, 1 had near at bund an old house, dry 
and warm, in which I kept them nights and 
on damp, gloomy days, when 1 thought it 
hurtful fur them to be out. Their feed for 
the first throe days consisted of hard-boiled 
eggs, chopped tine, which 1 fed them from 
my hand. After this, the hard-hotted eggs, 
together with bread crumbs and other scraps 
from the table, nil of which we chopped 
together line. On rainy days, when I could 
not let them out, I chopped in their food 
onion blades, tongue grass or mustard leaves, 
which they seemed to relish, 1 do not 
give t hem raw and uncooked food, and for 
my carg J have been well rewarded, for, out 
of the little brood, I never lost but one tur¬ 
key, and tliat from an injury which it re¬ 
ceived ; and at Thanksgiving 1 had some of 
the largest and liuest turkeys in tile neigh¬ 
borhood, not only tasting well, but being the 
admiration of all who saw them. 
From my experience, I am convinced that, 
and by its means have raised a considerable 
number of young birds, which, at the age of 
a mouth, arc worth #80 to $30 each, Others 
allow the birds to hatch their own eggs. Tire 
feathers (which are plucked in a narrow pen 
into which the birds are enticed one by one) 
vary in quality and price, according to the 
age of the birds, and the portion of the body 
from which they are plucked, some of the 
best Ixung worth over jtfOi) per pound. 
The farming of the ostrich, if well and care¬ 
fully conducted upon a suitable farm, with 
the necessary enclosures, and plenty of feed, 
is found to be very profitable; and is now 
becoming quite a Common tiling among t he 
sheep-farmers to keep ostriches as well as 
sheep; but, the birds are easily injured, a 
1 slight blow front a stone or stick will break 
| their legs, in which case the bird inevitably 
1 diofl. 
The cock birds, whose plumage is black 
and white, are often exceedingly fierce, 
especially at or after pairing season, when it 
is dangerous for a man on foot, to approach 
them, as they will at once give chase ; when 
they overtake the fugitive they knock him 
down with t,heir foot, as a man would with 
his fist, and strike and trample t heir victim 
on the ground, often inflicting very serious 
injuries, 
THE RED-BREA8TED GOOSE 
The Red-Breasted Goose (Bernicla ruficol- 
lia) is the rarest of the British water-fowl, 
and the exhibition of a living specimen is 
therefore an event, of great interest to orni¬ 
thologists. Mr. 8 ki.by gives the following 
account of four instances of its capture In 
England.:—“ It is known in Britain only as a 
rare visitant, when <1 riven by tempestuous 
weather out of the usual course of its migra¬ 
tions. But live or six instances of its capture 
are on record. The first, occurred near Lon¬ 
don 1770, and the specimen passed into the 
hands of Mr. TunstaLL, and from it (now in 
the Museum at Newcastle-on-Tyne), the por¬ 
trait liorewith given was taken ; in the sec¬ 
ond instance this bird was caught alive near 
Wycliife, Eng., and was kept by the above- 
mentioned gentleman for some years in con¬ 
finement; a third, shot near Berwick-upon- 
Tweed, was sent to Mr. Bullock, in whose 
museum it remained tdl the dispersion of 
that celebrated collection ; the others, ac¬ 
cording to Mr. Stei’UKNS, wi-di killed in the 
severe winter of 1818 in Cambridgeshire, lmt 
unfortunately, from the ignorance of the 
captors, were lost to the purposes of science.” 
The Red-Breasted goose is a native of 
Northern Asia; and in its migrations so sel¬ 
dom comes within reach of collectors that 
even skins of ir, bear a very high value. 
Temminck gives the mouths of Rivers Ob and 
Sena as its principal breeding 
places, but, does nqt state op 
what authority. Its occurrence 
in Germany is almost as rare 
as in Britain ; in Holland a few 
instances have occurred, the 
most remarkable being a little 
flock of eight which were sliqt 
some years since, and unfortu- r 
nately fell into the hands of a 
poulterer, who sent them to the - 
tables of liis customers instead -V 7 . - 
of the Dutch Museums. The 
bird now living at the British t 
Zoological Gardens was taken ,• 
in a decoy near Amsterdam, 
in company with some brent 
geese, to which species it up- ■&' 
pears closely allied both ill form A' 
and habits. - r * 
IRREGULAR HATCHING, 
A CORRESPONDENT of the Poultry Chronicle 
having beeu unsuccessful in and with his 
oggs, the chickens hatching irregularly and 
dying soon after breaking shell, the editor 
says in answer to his complaints :—“ We 
fancy the limit lies with your neglect of a 
very common ride, (hat, of dumping your 
eggs. We are great sticklers for nature. A 
lieu pheasant, partridge, or grouse, oracom- 
mon lien that steals her nest, leaves the eggs 
at break of day prompted by nature, and 
goes to the grass in search of food. It is at 
that time wt as a river. She returns to her 
nest reeking, and sits on her eggs. Hence the 
uniform success. Fallowing our great ex¬ 
emplar, we always for seven or eight days 
before hatching damp our eggs with water. 
Failing that, the membrane that lines I he 
inside of the shell becomes too tough for the 
chickens to penetrate, and they either die in 
the shell or come out one or two at a limA 
HOW TO RAISE TURKEYS 
A CORRESPONDENT of the RURAL Ne\V- 
Yorker, recently asked for directions as to 
the best mode of rearing young turkeys. For 
BEST POULTRY BREEDERS. 
I write to ascertain the 
names of some (the most suc¬ 
cessful) of the large poultry 
raisers of the United States. I 
am thinkr 
business for 
to know whiei 
mg of engaging in the 
profit, and l want 
i is the. best pure 
breed, ranging qualities, eggs, 
hardiness, motherhood and ta¬ 
ble qualities considered. I have 
tried the Light. Brahmas on a 
small seale, and like them much; 
yet how 1 hey would do or com¬ 
pare with other breeds on a 
large scale, I do not know ; 
therefore, T wish to correspond 
with some large raisers of pure 
breeds.—O. O. Smith, Walnut 
Uilte, Cincinnati, O. 
Oka correspondent has asked 
for information we canmiot 
give; hence we publish his let¬ 
ter, with full address, that 
such as consider themselves 
“ most successful ” may ad- 
AN OSTRICH FARM 
FOWLS EATING THEIR EGGS. 
Can you or some of your read- 
era tell me what to do with my 
hens ! They lay, but will eat 
their eggs. I feed meal pudding 
and potatoes. The liens are 
pure-bred Dorkings.— H. M. s. £ 
Get earthen, nest-eggs and 
take the eggs laid from the nest 
as soon as they are dropped. 
Give them free access to lime, 
and feed fresh meat two or 
three times a week. 
