•*908. 
TTI-IE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
063 
TURKEY RAISING. 
If you are thinking of going into 
turkey raising, or if you are already in 
the business, I would say get the best 
stock you can buy. Some people think 
if a turkey, no matter how poor or in¬ 
ferior it may be, is called a turkey, they 
can succeed in turkey raising. No won¬ 
der these people say, “My turkeys all 
died; I cannot raise turkeys; they were 
such weak little things.” I find the best 
none too good as breeders. When it is 
getting time for the hens to lay make 
some nice nests where you would like 
them to lay away from skunks or foxes 
and where they arc not liable to be dis¬ 
turbed. When you think they are look¬ 
ing for a nest drive them where your 
nests are, and let them look them over, 
and you will be surprised how you can 
coax them into the place where you 
would like them to lay. 
When they begin sitting I sprinkle in¬ 
sect powder on the mother every week 
during the sitting period, and when she 
comes off with her young you will find 
no vermin on mother or poults. After 
the young are nicely hatched I give each 
one a little warm milk; the little things 
will sip it from a spoon, and I find it 
gives them strength and they do not re¬ 
quire much food for the first 24 hours. 
I then begin with bread and milk, and 
feed that until they are three or four 
weeks old, then I get some good plump 
wheat (not screenings) and put a few 
kernels where they can get it, and be¬ 
fore they are aware of it they are eating 
wheat. You cannot get them to eat 
wheat in a minute, but if you have 
patience and keep putting the wheat 
where they can get it they will soon 
learn to eat it. Always give them 
plenty of good clean water; keep fresh 
water where they can get it at any time 
unless you have running water where 
they can get it. I wish to emphasize 
this in keeping their food and water 
clean; turkeys are not like other fowls; 
they like clean food and water. 
I have some coops made of drygoods 
boxes, the large kind, and a roof put on 
and shingled, for turkeys must be kept 
dry and protected from storm and cold 
winds when young, and do not allow 
their droppings to remain in the coop 
but clean them every morning, which is 
easily and quickly done. Keep the 
mother in the coop until the dew is well 
off the grass in the morning, and then 
let them go, for they do much better to 
have their liberty than kept confined. I 
find the White Holland more domes¬ 
ticated than the Bronze turkey. They 
lay earlier, mature faster and weigh as 
much when matured. MRS. e. j. r. 
LIVE STOCK NOTES. 
Some Problems in Dairy Feeding. 
Poor Sod. —On account of the dry 
season and the depredations of white 
grubs, many farmers have to face the 
Winter with scant haymows. On our 
own meadows I am inclined to think 
that the shortage of the hay crop was 
due even more to the last cause than 
to the first. In many places the sod 
was completely killed by the grubs. The 
brown spots, often attributed to lack 
of moisture, are in reality caused by 
these insects. The sod can be brushed 
aside like a coating of dead leaves 
and the soil beneath is so loose and 
mellow that it clings to the mold board 
in plowing. When we first began to 
plow these pieces a flock of blackbirds 
and a.flock of robins came every day 
and filled themselves with grubs and 
worms as they were turned out in the 
furrows. Since the birds have taken 
their flight to warmer climes, four or 
five chickens follow the plow back and 
forth, and do their small share toward 
exterminating the pest—many will es¬ 
cape, however, going down below frost 
to pass the Winter in the subsoil, from 
whence they will emerge in the Spring 
transformed into June bugs—ready to 
lay more eggs to hatch into another 
batch of ravenous grubs. 
Keep Milking. —Those dairymen 
who are fortunate enough to have an 
abundance of fodder will do well to 
keep .their cows milking for some time 
yet; but for those who are short of 
feed, .and whose cows have milked all 
Summer, and are due to freshen again 
in the Spring, the best policy will be 
to allow them to dry off rather earlier 
than usual, for a dry cow, as every 
dairyman knows, can be wintered much 
cheaper than one that is stripping once 
or twice a day. We ordinarily aim to 
milk our cows at least 10 months out of 
the twelve, but this coming Winter many 
of them will run dry for three months 
or more. We shall keep enough of 
them stripping to supply a few regular 
milk customers, until one of our Winter 
cows freshens, but the remainder of 
the herd will be dried o'ff as quickly as 
possible. For heifers milking their first 
or second season this would not be good 
policy. Heifers should always be en¬ 
couraged to milk as long as possible in 
order to develop the habit of persistent 
milking; but for aged cows, where this 
habit is already developed, a little extra 
rest for one Winter is not likely to 
have an injurious effect. 
Sell Poor Cows.—Many old and in¬ 
ferior cows have been disposed of this 
Fall—some of them for a song—but it 
is a wise policy to sacrifice a few of 
the poorer individuals in order that the 
remainder of the herd may have an 
abundance. Better winter 12 cows well 
than to bring 15 through “by the skin 
of the teeth,” as Job would say. The 
flesh which a cow puts on her frame 
when she is not milking and which she 
will put on if well fed, is not by any 
means lost energy. .She will return it 
in milk when she freshens, and will 
do better the whole of her milking sea¬ 
son by reason of it. Many cows come 
through the Winter so poorly that the 
best of the season is over before they 
get down to business. Then fly time 
comes on, and before you know it Sum¬ 
mer has passed and the returns from 
the creamery or cheese factory are dis¬ 
appointingly small, and you are tempted 
to say “farming don’t pay.” 
Feeding Grain. —It is a good policy 
to begin feeding cows a little grain 
a few weeks before they are due to 
freshen; this is especially beneficial to 
cows of advanced age, or those thin 
in flesh. Wheat bran, middlings and 
ground oats arc ail strong in bone and 
muscle builders, and are safe feeds for 
cows heavy in calf. Cornmeal and bar¬ 
ley meal contain a large proportion of 
heat and fat-forming materials, and in 
general should be avoided at this time. 
Since, however, a cure for milk fever 
has been discovered, we are inclined to 
be less cautious in regard to feeding 
heavy milkers just before calving time. 
Holstein-Friesian breeders, in preparing 
cows for official tests, aim to give them 
a long rest from milking and a heavy 
coat of flesh which they consider as so 
much stored-up energy, to be expended 
in the milk pail when the test begins. 
Many feeders think that—other things 
being equal—the milk from a fat cow 
will test higher in butter fat than the 
milk from a lean one. It would seem 
at first thought as if this ought to be 
the case, but many experiments have 
gone to show that the condition of the 
cow has little to do with the test, al¬ 
though it certainly has a marked effect 
on the flow of milk. Another point 
conceded by all is that the strong, well- 
fed animal has a much better chance to 
pass through the trying time of calving 
successfully than her weak and under¬ 
fed sister. In spite of the best of care 
there are always some losses, but the 
losses of poorly wintered cows are out 
of all proportion to those that are care¬ 
fully and bountifully fed. 
Thinking Farmers. —Some feeders 
have the knack of bringing a herd of 
cattle through the Winter in fine con¬ 
dition on an amount of fodder that 
would seem wholly inadequate to other 
feeders. I have in mind a herd of a 
dozen cows that are fed no grain from 
one year’s end to another—except pos¬ 
sibly in individual cases of sickness— 
and yet these cows are always in good 
condition, and usually in extra good 
condition. I once asked the owner of 
this herd how he was able, without 
grain, to keep his cattle in such good 
flesh. “I’ll tell you the secret of the 
whole business,” he said in his charac¬ 
teristic way, “I always have them fat 
in the Fall before they go into Winter 
quarters.” After harvesting they are 
given the run of a good stretch of 
rich meadowland where they lay on 
their supply of flesh for the coming 
Winter. This farmer, who runs his place 
alone, delivers his milk during the 
Summer at a nearby skimming station. 
This station closes down in November, 
consequently our friend dries off his 
cows as soon as they go into Winter 
quarters, rather than to continue milk¬ 
ing them and making butter at home. 
In his case, considering all of his en¬ 
vironments, I believe his method is a 
wise one, but the majority of dairy¬ 
men will find it profitable to keep their 
cows milking about 10 months out of 
the 12. It is a difficult matter to 
formulate rules of action that will fit all 
cases. The great trouble seems to be 
that each farm is an individual prob¬ 
lem in itself. The mental effort re¬ 
quired to solve these problems—where 
an earnest effort is made—is, in truth, 
a great means whereby character may 
be developed; in other words it is an 
education. If this statement be true, 
then the successful dairyman is an edu¬ 
cated man, for he has certainly met 
and overcome many difficulties, and by 
reason of all this has developed his 
thinking powers,, which after all is the 
meaning of education. c. s. m. 
“Do you like Carlyle?” aske ’ the lit¬ 
erary girl from Boston. “Indeed I do,” 
responded the Chicago miss. “I root 
for them every time they play foot¬ 
ball.”—Chicago Daily News. 
Witex you write advertisers mention Trn 
R. N.-Y. and you'll jrot a quick reply and 
“a square deal." See guarantee page 10. 
Have you ever read 
anything about the 
cream separator ? 
Have you ever seen one 
Have you ever seen a 
Tubular Separator 
If you haven’t seen one, you have 
missed a great deal and if you are 
skimming without a separator, you 
are losing more than $10.00 per cow. 
With a Tubular you not only get 
all the cream, but a richer unwhipped, 
unchurned grade. 
Don’t take our word for it, but in¬ 
vestigate our claims by trying a Tub¬ 
ular. 
Catalog 153 tells how. Write for .t. 
The Sharpies Separator Co., 
WEST CHESTER, PENNA. 
Toronto, Can. San Francisco, Calif. Chicago, Ill, 
and guarantee satisfac¬ 
tory and prompt returns. 
Send us trial shipment. 
Will hold shipments 
separate if requested. 
MILTON SCHREIBER & CO., 
11 AW 
28-30 East 
12th Street, 
Vr. Guerin di f'f Badger Stock- 
113 C ° m dred Pound bag at one . 
STOCK FEED 
Milwaukee, Wis. 
Chas. A. Krause Milling Co., 
Milwaukee, Wis. 
Gentlemen :—After trying your 
Badger Stock Feed on one of our 
horses for sometime, we find the 
result most satisfactory. The 
horse did not like the feed at 
first, but by mixing just a little 
with the regular ration, he soon 
got accustomed to your feed and 
now likes it better than straight 
corn and oats. He is gaining in 
flesh, his coat is sleek and shiny, 
altho* we have been working 
him very hard. 
We are placing an order for 
more Badger Stock Feed and 
are going to feed it to all our 
horses. 
Yours truly, 
Guerin Transfer Co., 
(Signed) J. GUERIN. 
ohnDeere 
Lij»ht Draft PI ows 
Standard For Two Generation^ 
T R.ADL 
<C0 
'J***, 
MARK 
TOHN DEERE invented the steel plow. 
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A Plow for You 
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DEERE & COMPANY, Moline, Illinois 
