1814 
be, however, that there are enough who succeed to 
make the causes of failure all the more clear. 
VIGOROUS STOCK NEEDED.— 1 The turkey is a 
comparatively recently domesticated bird and one 
that has lost much of its old-time vigor under the 
control of man. How to get back and keep some of 
this old-time vigor is one of the biggest problems in 
turkey raising. Under-sized and weakened stock 
used for breeding purposes, is perhaps the first big 
cause of loss. The use of vigorous, mature hens and 
strong heavy toms is one thing needed to assure 
vigor in the young poults. The high prices that have 
prevailed of late years have tempted many to sell 
all of the heaviest birds, and to keep over the lighter 
ones as breeders. This is sure to lead to reduced 
vigor in the next year’s stock. Good poultrymen 
seldom breed from pullets, and, if two and three- 
year-old stock as breeders is essential in the case of 
common hens, how much more important it must 
be with the slower maturing turkeys. Those who 
have attained the best success with turkeys never 
breed from yearling hens, and often keep and use the 
same hens until they are five or six years old. An 
early hatched heavy yearling tom will often be safe 
to use with old hens, if unrelated, but unless he is 
early-hatched and vigorous it is always safer to use 
a two-year-old tom. 
HATCHING UNDER HENS.—Another point 
where many have failed is in trying to hatch and 
rear turkeys by the use of common hens. The com¬ 
mon hen will often not sit for the full four weeks 
required to hatch turkey eggs and, furthermore, 
even if they hatch them well, they are not good 
brooders of young turkeys. They wean the poults 
too young and leave them to shift for themselves, 
while the mother turkey will brood the flock till 
early Fall. The hatching should be done under 
turkeys mainly. The mother turkey will, however, 
care for more than she can hatch, and so it may be 
wise to hatch part of the eggs under liens, during 
the same period of time the old turkey is sitting, 
and then give to her both lots of poults as soon as 
hatched. In this case only large broody hens should 
be used, and not. more than seven to nine eggs given 
to one hen. 
CAUSE OF LOSSES.—The losses with baby 
poults are due mainly to two Causes, exposure to 
storms and faulty feeding. The losses from ex¬ 
posure can generally be prevented by careful housing 
at night and by yarding until the wet is off in the 
forenoon. Sudden showers, that are liable to come 
any time through the day, mean that constant 
watchfulness is necessary if the mother bird is dis¬ 
posed to take her flock far away from the buildings. 
ERRORS IN FEEDING.—Faulty feeding may be 
due to over-feeding or to wrong feeding, and either 
is liable to prove fatal. Extremely light feeding for 
the first few days should always be the rule. 
Toasted bread or crackers soaked with new milk is 
about the safest for a few days. This should be 
fed in very shallow dishes, and all left over should 
be cleaned up to prevent the eating of dirty feed. 
Steamed package oatmeal is a good feed to use dry 
after the first week. This should be fed several 
times daily in small quantities. Those who have 
succeeded best with turkeys say that new milk 
should be fed for the first two or three weeks, to be 
followed by the use of sour milk. Sour milk seems 
to hold in check the germs that cause blackhead and 
other intestinal disorders. 
FREE RANGE.—There is a difference of opinion 
as to the advantages of free range or restricted 
range. Some have succeeded by letting the old tur¬ 
keys care for the young exclusively in the open. 
Generally this success comes where a forest area is 
near the house, and the young birds can be dry and 
sheltered most of the time. Others succeed by keep¬ 
ing the old birds with the young carefully housed at 
night, and yarded in dry yards until the wet is off 
the grass. Pasture range is better than meadows 
if the pasture is near the house. 
BLACKHEAD.—The housing and yarding seems 
to be the one big source of trouble. There is no 
doubt that the one main cause of loss in turkey 
raising is the blackhead disease. This usually be¬ 
comes severe when the young turks are six weeks 
to two months old. Many do not recognize the first 
symptoms of droopiness and scours as due to black¬ 
head. but if the poults do not die early the charac¬ 
teristic symptoms of blackhead are sure to show in 
time. Scientific investigators tell us that blackhead 
germs are more or less present in all turkeys, and 
that the important thing is to develop resistance in 
the birds and hold the germs in check by avoiding 
increased infection from the droppings of the old 
birds. It would seem then that if by proper clean¬ 
liness and disinfection the young turkeys cun be 
prevented from eating the germs heavy infection 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
may be avoided. One of the most successful turkey 
raisers in the North Country is a woman, who told 
the writer that she always cleaned out the poultry 
roosting house daily, and put in new litter, the floors 
first being sprinkled with air-slaked lime and a 
solution of carbolic acid. During the day the flock 
had extensive range, mostly on dry pasture, and 
were fed in the open away from the buildings. In 
this way infection through the droppings seemed to 
be much reduced. Many years ago a woman of my 
acquaintance had unusual success in rearing turkeys 
by keeping the young turkeys enclosed in a long 
movable coop with a small coop at the end for the 
mother bird. This combination coop was moved 
about the yard once each day. so the birds were 
never on the same .ground more than 24 hours. The 
flock was handled in this manner until the poults 
were about three months old and were past the 
■.danger point in blackhead. This close confinement 
method of handling turkeys is quite contrary to the 
general practice, and is usually not considered safe. 
AVOIDING INFECTION.—Where turkeys are 
allowed to run in one yard most of the time, or even 
on open ground near the buildings, with other fowls, 
the losses seem to be greater than where they have 
roosting quarters by themselves, with free range 
away from other fowls. This would seem to show 
that even the common fowls have the blackhead 
germs in their bodies, and may infect the young 
turkeys running on the same ground. It has been 
noticed that beginners with turkeys on a farm where 
none has been kept for years often have good suc¬ 
cess in rearing, but that after a few years the losses 
increase very much. Again, if turkey raising is 
dropped, where heavy losses have occurred, good 
success may be had once more after a few years. 
Cleanliness and disinfection, with care that the feed¬ 
ing is done under cleat} and new conditions, where 
the droppings are not plentiful, seems to he the one 
thing essential. Ranging the birds as much as pos¬ 
sible on new or little used ground is the second 
important point leading to success. Poultry disease 
investigators are studying the blackhead disease at 
several of the experiment stations, and it seems 
likely that new and efficient methods of control will 
be worked out. just as has been the case with white 
scours in chickens. c. s. phelps. 
New York. 
Some Examples of Tree Surgery 
N page 1544 a subscriber asks for information 
in regard to treatment of a pear tree, the trunk 
of which was badly damaged by decay. The reply 
is good, down to where C. O. O. says: “Spread a 
ribbon of slater’s or plumber’s waterproof cement 
along the edge of the opening, next to the cambium.” 
In the first place, none but an expert could do as 
directed: in the second place, few understand what 
the “cambium” is, and it is of the utmost importance 
to know where and what the cambium is before 
anyone attempts to repair a cavity in a tree. Again, 
in regard to the cambium, other things are vastly 
more essential than the layer of waterproof cement. 
The cambium is the living, growing part of the tree. 
It is found underneath the bark, between the bark 
and the wood; it consists of a layer or tissue during 
the first year of its age, after which it becomes wood. 
After all the directions for cavity work given by 
C. O. O. have been complied with in as intelligent 
manner as possible, one thing remains that must be 
carefully looked after, before the cement filling is 
completed, or nature will defeat the operation. This 
is to see that no part of the cambium is covered 
with cement. If the cambium should he covered one 
of two fatal things will inevitably follow, either the 
cement on top of the cambium xvill kill the cambium, 
or. if the cambium lives, it will go on growing and 
push the cement out of the tree. My observation is 
that amateurs frequently fail to obey some of the 
fundamental principles of tree surgery. I have fre¬ 
quently seen cement plastered on top of the cambium, 
and in many cases I have seen the cement forced out 
by the new growth. 
My practice is to cut the bark back about one- 
eighth of an inch all the way around the cavity; 
then, in filling with cement, leave this one-eighth- 
inch space uncovered, so that the cambium is entirely 
unobstructed and perfectly free to continue its nor¬ 
mal growth. If this is done a nice layer of new wood 
will appear around the edge of the cement the fol¬ 
lowing year, to which more new wood will be added 
annually, and in time the entire wound may be 
covered by new growth. Any tree may be treated 
in this manner, provided it has sufficient vitality to 
properly respond to the treatment. I have treated 
large cavities in shade trees, standing on nice lawns, 
years ago, that are now entirely healed over the 
December 0, 1010 
cement filling, with no trace of the cement visible. 
An apple tree which I treated near Parkersburg, 
W. Va., is shown in cut on next page, Fig. 002. 
The work on this tree was done in .Tune. The trunk 
of the tree was nothing but a shell, although the 
foliage was as green as grass. Yes, the cambium 
.was alive and in healthy condition, else there would 
have been little or no leaves on the tree, and I would 
not have undertaken its salvation. About two inches 
'of good live wood extended the larger part of the 
way around the tree. After excavation of dead wood 
and disinfecting, somewhat after the manner stated 
by G. O. O., although there are other ways of doing 
this, I then proceeded to strengthen the frail trunk 
by using %-ineh iron bolts, which were run 
through the tree from side to side in three places: 
after this four iron rods, seven feet long, were put 
inside the hollow tree, these rods extending from 
two feet below the surface of the ground up close 
to the crotch. The photograph was taken before the 
cavity was filled. The cement was put in in sections, 
using tar paper for joints, to allow for swaying of 
the tree in the wind. The operation was entirely 
successful. 
) An apple tree near Findlay, Ohio, the cavities of 
which were treated in similar manner, and in addi¬ 
tion grafted some years ago. is now in vigorous 
condition, bearing .°,2 different kinds of apples and 
six different kinds of pears, the apples beginning to 
ripen early in the Summer, and a regular rotation 
of ripening fruit being kept up until late in the Fall. 
The tree is now about 75 years old, and appears to 
be a producer of choice fruit for many years to 
COHie. W. S. FULKMAX. 
Ohio. 
Education For a City Man 
I HAVE a good friend who lives in the city, a 
successful business man of considerable wealth. 
When prices began to soar a few years ago, and his 
grocery and meat bills mounted higher with each 
change of the moon, he got the idea that the farmer 
was getting most of his hard-earned shekels. So 
he decided to get into the farming game and rake 
in a few hatfuls of the filthy lucre. He bought a 
fine farm of several hundred acres, in a good state 
of cultivation, and well equipped with buildings. No 
expense was spared in putting in further modern 
appliances and tools, also a herd of purebred stock. 
He was intensely interested in his new venture, and 
gave much of his time the first year to his farming 
operations. I met him on the street recently, and he 
seemed to have something on his mind that he 
wanted to unload. Tie told me some of his troubles 
as a farmer, the usual story of the eitij farmer. lie 
hadn’t made it pay, but the point I wish to make 
is contained in his concluding remark. He said: 
“I have had a chance to see things from the farmer’s 
side, and I know now that if I pay too much for 
my living the farmer who works to provide it is not 
getting more than he earns—in many cases much 
less; he is no profiteer.” He said further: “Do 
you know, the average city dweller has no apprecia¬ 
tion of the farmer's side of this game, and will not 
unless he tries it awhile?” 
The trouble with all of us is that we do not see 
things from the other side. How true this is in all 
the walks of life, but it seems to be especially true 
of the city man’s appreciation of the farmer's life. 
I believe the farmer sees the city man’s side much 
more correctly than vice versa. This probably is 
due to some extent to the fact that the average 
farmer reads the best city papers and magazines, 
while people in the city seldom read the farm 
papers. Lack of knowledge is usually the chief cause 
of prejudice, and if we will but put ourselves in the 
other fellow’s shoes for awhile we will be more 
lenient in our judgments, as well as more correct. 
The average man, whether in city or country, is 
fair, and a better understanding between the pro¬ 
ducer on the farm and the consumer in the city will 
lead not only to better feeling, but to a very material 
gain in dollars and cents to both sides. It would 
lead to the elimination of unnecessary and crooked 
middlemen who at the present time are playing the 
producer against the consumer, and the consumer 
against the producer, which works invariably to a 
loss to both, and excessive profits to the middleman. 
There should be some way of conducting a cam¬ 
paign of education, and I feel that this will be about 
the biggest and best thing a national farm organi¬ 
zation can do. The farm papers have been present¬ 
ing the facts from the farmer’s standpoint for years, 
but they do not reach the masses of people in the 
cities. How this shall be done is something for the 
farmer to think seriously about in the days that are 
ahead of us. 
s. ir. p. 
