Vol. LXXVIII. 
Published Weekly by The Rural Publishing Co., 
333 W. 30th St., New York. Price One Dollar a Tear. 
NEW YORK, DECEMBER 13, 1919. 
Entered as Second-Class Matter, June 28, 1S79. at the Post -vr 4 -.R 4 
Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879. 
Some Essentials of Turkey Raising 
The Greatest Gamble of Poultry Culture 
1 
Would you give me the proper way to feed small tur¬ 
keys? ‘ MRS. A. H. 
New York. 
T hanksgiving sales. — The culminating 
events of the turkey raising season of Northern 
New York are the turkey sales held a few days be¬ 
fore Thanksgiving and again before Christmas. 
I 11 all of the principal turkey sections the 
turkeys are brought into some shipping center, 
and the buyers vie with each other to see who 
will get the best flocks. It is no unusual sight to 
see farmers with a hundred or more, and the prices 
for the past few years have ranged from 35 to 42 
cents dressed weight. It is no uncommon experience 
for a farmer to return home with a check for any¬ 
where from $200 to $500 as a result of his day’s 
sales. From the enthusiasm that accompanies these 
sales one might think that the turkey business means 
easy gains to the farmer and his family. A visit 
to several of the farms during some July or August 
day, and a little inquiry as to the prosperity of the 
flock, will soon reveal the fact that all is not rosy 
along the road leading to turkey profits. 
DIFFICULTIES OF TURKEY RAISING.—It is 
a safe estimate that not 10 per cent of the turkeys 
hatched in the big turkey-raising section of the 
North ever reached a marketable age. Eternal vigil¬ 
ance for mother and the children is the price of 
success with turkeys. Hustling them to shelter 
from sudden storms, housing them each night from 
possible ravages by foxes, guarding against losses 
from skunks or rats, and above all puzzling out the 
safest method of feeding to insure vigor and thrift, 
are some of the many cares that fall to the lot of 
the good housewife on these Northern farms. If it 
were not for the constant hazard and tremendous 
losses, to which the business of turkey raising is 
subject, hundreds would be raising turkeys where 
one is now, because the profits are good when real 
success is achieved. Really good profits seldom come 
however, except to the few who are willing to pay 
the price of constant care in small details. The 
editor of The R. N.-Y. writes me that many readers 
are asking about turkey raising, and want to know 
the essentials of success. A few do succeed, but if 
one were to make a complete survey of all attempts 
at raising turkeys “by and large,” it would be a 
record of failures rather than of successes. It may 
A Fine Gobble Turkey On the Way to a Christmas Celebration. Fiy. 599 
