426 
The Henyard. 
TURKEY RAISING. 
One great trouble with the turkey in¬ 
dustry is that so many would-be turkey 
raisers will persist in keeping under¬ 
sized hens for breeding stock, market all 
the yearlings because they are heavier, 
and each year breed from pullets. Small, 
late toms are also kept, and often inbreed¬ 
ing practiced for years in succession. A 
pair of such turkeys wandered to our 
place one Spring and they were not larger 
nor heavier than our Barred Plymouth 
Rocks. The big white tom promptly 
drove them off the place. The old rule, 
“like begets like,” holds good with tur¬ 
keys, and if they are to be improved or 
even kept as good as at present the breed¬ 
ing stock must be carefully selected. 
Old hens, that is, past the first laying 
season, are best. They lay larger eggs, 
which hatch stronger poults. Seven such 
hens mated with a young tom, not akin, 
and pure blood of whatever breed kept, 
make ideal breeding stock. All must be 
of good size and shape and perfect health. 
Find out the standard weights and select, 
for breeders those birds which come the 
nearest to it. By doing this for a few 
years, one can attain the standard and 
perhaps above. They must not be al¬ 
lowed to put on fat through the Winter, 
or the eggs will not hatch, and overfeed¬ 
ing turkeys of any size brings on liver 
trouble. A mixture of good sound grains, 
such as barley, oats, wheat and buck¬ 
wheat, with some corn in cold weather, 
should be fed twice a day, feeding each 
time just what they will clean up with 
a good appetite. They also relish a mash 
occasionally, made up of wheat bran 
mixed with cooked vegetables. Clean 
water and grit are essential. 
In warmer climates, turkeys may b? 
left to seek their natural roost, the tree 
tops, all the year round, but in the long 
cold Winters of Central New York it 
seems inhuman to ask them to sleep with¬ 
out shelter from storm and wind. They 
should have the run of a shed or old hay 
barn. Roosts should be made of poles 
about three inches in diameter, placed 
not too high, and a good bed of straw 
for them to light on, to save them from 
injury. A heavy tom is afraid to fly 
down from a high perch. Give them 
liberty to go and come at will, but drive 
them all in at night and shut the door. 
If the thermometer goes 30 below, or 
the snow piles up several feet deep, they 
will sleep better and so will you. Such 
a building serves the purpose well; it is 
not too close or warm, gives them plenty 
of good air, and keeps them dry and pro¬ 
tected from the wind. Given this care 
they will come out in the Spring in fine 
condition, and begin laying early. In 
our climate they seldom lay before March, 
but that is too early to set the eggs. We 
cannot depend on favorable weather to 
grow the baby poults before May. 
lien turkeys are very shy about their 
nesting, and will go quite a distance to 
hide their nests in the woods or brushy 
fence corners. This can be prevented by 
providing them with nests near the build¬ 
ings. Barrels, turned down on the side, 
make good ones, each nest furnished 
with a china nest egg and bed of dry 
leaves or straw. The eggs will be found 
there neatly covered with the nest ma¬ 
terial, and can be carried in for safe 
keeping. Eggs for hatching should be 
turned every day and not be allowed to 
chill; cooling to 40 degrees spoils them 
for hatching. A hen will lay from 15 to 
30 eggs before becoming broody, and can 
then be “broken up” and made to lay 
again. Confine her for a day or two in 
a roomy coop, feed her well and give 
plenty of water and shells, and she will 
be laying again in a week. 
Turkey hens make the best mothers for 
the poults; they take them farther afield 
in search of their natural food, and 
seem to understand their needs better 
than a common hen. A turkey will cover 
18 or more eggs. There should be plenty 
of good nest material and both nest and 
turkey dusted well with a good insect pow¬ 
der. It takes about 28 days for the eggs 
to incubate. Visit the sitting turkeys 
often and talk to them so they will be¬ 
come used to their keeper and the sound 
of her voice before hatching time; then 
when taken from the nest they will not 
be frightened and kill or injure the baby 
poults. The mother turkey must have 
a coop about three feet square and high 
enough to permit her to straighten up, 
the top and back of coop covered with 
roofing paper to keep it dry and the front 
slatted and hinged at top. The entire 
front can be thrown over on top of coop 
when the hen is given her liberty. In 
early Spring or wet weather, removable 
floors are good ; they can be taken out and 
cleaned or discarded entirely when the 
ground is dry and warm, if floors are 
not used, sprinkle coal ashes under coop; 
no moisture will come up through them. 
The coop should be whitewashed every 
year and always kept clean and free from 
lice. The mother turkeys and poults 
should be dusted with insect powder at 
least once a week, and carefully watched 
for any signs of lice, as even one large 
white louse on the head is almost sure 
death to a little poult. 
THIS RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 14, 
Every turkey raiser has his individual 
method of feeding. My own is the fol¬ 
lowing: Take the poults from the nest 
as soon as all are hatched and dry, and 
give them clean water and grit or sifted 
oyster shells. After a few hours give 
them a very little wheat bran mixed 
rather dry with sour milk, sprinkle with 
a very little red pepper if weather is 
cold or damp. 
Feed this four or five times a day for 
the first four days, on a clean board, tak¬ 
ing it away after they have eaten. On 
the fifth day begin feeding whole grain, 
either rolled oats or a good chick feed, 
at first once a day, gradually working 
them on to these and later cracked wheat 
and then whole wheat, buckwheat and 
oats and some corn. But we keep up 
the bran feed once every day, mixing it 
with sour milk if possible. Those who 
have plenty of sour milk for their tur¬ 
keys are fortunate; it is an excellent feed 
and should be kept before them in clean 
dishes to go to at will. 
When the poults are three days old 
begin cutting onion tops and green dande¬ 
lions for them. They are very fond of 
these, and will soon eat more than one 
cares to cut. Turkeys must never be 
overfed or pampered; give the hen her 
liberty when poults are two weeks old. 
She is wise in turkey lore and will take 
good care of the little ones. They need 
lots of exercise and just the kind of food 
she will find for them. If a sudden 
shower catches them out in the fields, 
gather them up in a basket and dry them 
by the kitchen fire; not one need be lost 
if they are attended to promptly. 
Turkeys, up to the size of pigeons, 
need constant and thoughtful care, but 
after they reach that size they are as 
hardy as one could wish. Plenty of 
range and one feeding of grain to call 
them home at night is all they require. 
This is the method used at Silver Maple 
Farm for the past six years, with good 
I’esults. We chose the White Hollands 
as the breed best suited to our needs. 
They grow to the size best suited for 
market birds, 10 to 12 pounds dressed, 
and of course, show no dark pin-feathers 
on the carcass. The White Hollands are 
excellent layers and good mothers, being 
more domestic in their habits than other 
breeds of turkeys. 
The market has never been over¬ 
stocked with Thanksgiving turkeys and 
there is never enough purebred breeding 
stock and eggs for hatching to supply the 
demand. The white turkey feathers are 
very valuable; the quills bring a good 
price and the fluffs of which there is only 
a handful on each bird, should every one 
be treasured. They are much used in 
millinery and bring a fabulous price. 
Turkeys are an interesting study, a bene¬ 
fit to the farm and good sure money¬ 
makers. All in all, it seems to me they 
are the best worth while of any poultry 
raised. mrs. niles grover. 
New York. 
The 1914 year-book and catalogue of 
the American S. C. White Minorca Club 
is now ready for distribution. The club 
is in a growing and prosperous condi¬ 
tion, having more than doubled in mem¬ 
bership, and 8. C. White Minorcas are 
making big strides in gaining public 
favor. Vastly more 8. C. White Minorcas 
have been exhibited this past Winter 
than ever before. At the “Palace,” Coli¬ 
seum, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Wash¬ 
ington and many other big shows large 
classes were exhibited. c. A. R. 
Kingston, N. Y. 
NEW IS FREE 
Now Shipped 
Try it in your own home. Entertain your family 
and your friends. Send it back at our expense if you 
don t want to keep it. Terms as low as $2 a MONTH 
Our Edison Catalog Free 
Send a postal or a 
letter at once for 
. , . . , „ our new Edison 
cOtnlog and particulars of this liberal trial offer. No obligations 
whatever. Do not delay un instant. WRITE TODAY SURE. 
F. K. Ba'nsen. Ellison Phonoranli Dist.S2f 3 Edison Blk. Chicago, IIL 
Potato Profits 
A certain loss in potatoes has been^ 
turned into a profit of $30 an acre by more 1 
and better cultivation. Keeps the soil mel- 
low, retains the moisture and kills the weeds. 
TIMM Cultivators 
Carry every possible adjustment of points. gauges, 
wheels and frame to care for any row crops in 
any soil and especially for potatoes. 
All steel but pole built for wear a 
and xicckyoke. \\ „ || // convenience. 
See them at your 
dealers and write 
us for booklet on 
"Two -Morse 
Ridin^and Walk¬ 
ing Cultivators.’* 
Ask also for Iron 
► Age Fas"i and 
Garden News. 
BATEMAN 
M’F'G CO. 
Box 1027 
Grenloch, N. J. 
363.1 Bushels Potatoes 
From One Acre of 
Massachusetts Land 
A. Webster Butler of Brockton, Mass., 
won the first southern zone prize offered by 
the Bowker Fertilizer Company for the larg¬ 
est yield of best quality potatoes grown ex¬ 
clusively on Stockbridge Potato Manure. 
His acre was a “rocky loam” producing 
about 2 1-2 tons of hay per acre in 1912 on 
manure. Rows were 36 in. apart and Green 
Mountains cut to two eyes were planted 14 
inches apart. The piece was cultivated five 
times. The acre was sprayed with Pyrox. 
STOCKBRIDGE 
POTATO MANURE 
was applied 2100 lbs. broadcast and 700 lbs. 
in the drill. No other fertilizer or dressing 
of any kind was used. The entire crop 
weighed 21,783 lbs. or 363.1 bushels. His 
total score including quality points was 589 
points, the highest in the southern zone. 
Other Winners secured yields ranging from 
311.1 bushels to 502.6 bushels in the northern zone, 
(Me., N. H., Vt.,) and from 183.8 bushels to 363.1 
bushels in the southern zone, (Mass., R. I., Conn.) 
Send us your name for complete and intructive statement 
concerning the results of the contest and how these great 
yields of potatoes were obtained. No other fertilizer than 
the Stockbridge Potato Manure was used. 
DfYIX7'fc r I7D fertilizer company 
DU W JEVIL.1V 43 Chatham St., Boston. 
Also Baltimore, Buffalo, Philadelphia and New York. 
The question is: 
not “How little can I pay for 
roofing?”; 
but “How little will it cost 
me?” 
You may pay little and get 
roofing that soon cracks, crum¬ 
bles, and leaks; but it costs less in 
the end to use roofing of natural 
asphalt, which stays waterproof. 
THE TRINIDAO-tAKE-ASPHALT 
has the natural oils of Trinidad Lake^/^ 
asphalt sealed in it. They give^fr 
Genasco life and vigor to resist sun,£Vt 
rain, wind, heat, cold, alkalis, and acids.^ 
It stays weather-proof and saves 
repair-expense. 
r r „ „ jm? 
Get Genasco and you get the satisfactory answer to your roofing question. The Good 
Roof Guide Book and samples are free on request. Ask your dealer for Genasco—smooth or 
mineral surface; several weights. Look for the trademark. THE KANT-LEAK KLEET 
waterproofs seams without cement and prevents nail-leaks. 
The Barber Asphalt 
Paving Company 
Largest producers in the world 
of asphalt and ready roofing. 
Philadelphia 
New York Chicago 
San Francisco 
"MlUXWJ tr 
