The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
1307 
A  Flock  of  Rhode  Island  Turkeys,  Hatched  May  1& 
them,  so  powder  the  poults  and  the  hen  mother. 
Do  this  once  a  week  until  they  are  four  or  five  weeks 
old,  for  lice  will  surely  kill  them. 
Have  the  coops  raised  from  the  ground  3  in.  to 
insure  dry  floors.  Keep  houses  well  cleaned,  and 
'sprinkle  occasionally  with  lime.  Do  not  allow 
crowding  at  night.  Keep  the  turkeys  away  from 
the  henyards  and  on  as  clean  ground  as  possible. 
When  my  turkeys  are  three  weeks  old  I  give  each 
of  them  about  five  drops  of  oil  of  turpentine.  I  put 
it  in  a  little  of  their  mash,  and  when  they  eat  that  I 
give  them  the  rest  of  their  breakfast. 
I  do  this  once  a  week  until  they  are 
three  or  four  months  old. 
Do  not  overfeed  the  young  poults  the 
first  few  days,  but  after  that  give  them 
plenty  to  eat,  for  I  think  the  faster 
they  grow  the  less  trouble  there  is. 
Take  good  care  of  the  breeding  stock, 
give  plenty  of  mash  and  grains  to  keep 
it  in  the  best  condition. 
Tbs. ;  rape,  4  lbs. ;  Red  clover,  G  lbs.  No.  2,  Soy 
beans,  SO  lbs. ;  Sweet  clover,  12  lbs. ;  rape,  4  lbs. 
No.  3,  rape,  6  lbs. ;  Red  clover,  12  lbs.  No.  4,  oats, 
20  lbs. ;  Canada  field  peas,  40  lbs. ;  rape,  4  lbs. 
Dwarf  Essex  rape  may  be  seeded  alone  in  rows  24 
in.  apart,  provided  one  desires  to  cultivate  the 
crop  during  its  early  stages  of  growth.  If  planted 
in  this  way  the  pigs  will  harvest  the  crop  with  a 
minimum  of  waste.  Alfalfa  is  perhaps  the  most  ex¬ 
pensive  forage  plant  to  establish,  but  it  easily  ex¬ 
cels  all  other  green  succulent  feeds  in  its  ability  to 
produce  pork  economically.  However, 
it  is  not  wise  to  allow  animals  to  graze 
on  newly  seeded  areas  of  Alfalfa  until 
the  plants  are  two  years  old.  When 
Alfalfa  fields  are  pastured  it  is  neces¬ 
sary  to  run  the  mowing  machine  over 
the  field  at  least  twice  during  the  sea¬ 
son,  usually  during  early  July  and 
again  in  late  August,  for  the  purpose 
of  invigorating  the  plants  and  thus 
providing  more  palatable  green  forage 
for  the  pigs.  If  abundant,  the  crop  of 
hay  can  be  cured  and  stored  for  use 
in  feeding  brood  sows  during  the  Win¬ 
ter  months.  Lime  is  an  absolute  neces¬ 
sity  where  Alfalfa  is  produced.  This 
crop"  will  not  grow  vigorously  on  acid 
or  poorly  drained  soil ;  neither  will  it 
hold  on  low  areas  where  freezing  and 
thawing  or  water-logging  conditions 
prevail.  Inoculation  with  cultures  or 
with  soil  from  an  established  Alfalfa 
field  is  necessary  for  all  land  areas 
that  have  never  produced  Alfalfa. 
With  the  other  forage  crops  only  two  or  three 
suggestions  are  necessary.  Any  mixture  consisting 
of  oats  and  peas  should  be  seeded  as  early  in  the 
Spring  as  possible.  Drill  the  oats  and  barley  and 
broadcast  the  rape  and  clover  seed.  Mixtures  con¬ 
taining  Soy  beans  should  not  be  seeded  until  late  in 
May  or  early  June.  Allow  the  plants  to  become  six 
or  eight  inches  high  before  the  pigs  are  turned 
into  a  forage  crop  area  and  do  not  permit  them  to 
graze  the  feed  closely  during  the  early  growing 
season.  If  pigs  having  the  run  of  a  green  crop 
are  fed  from  two  to  three  pounds  of  grain  daily 
for  each  100  lbs.  of  live  weight,  it  is  believed  that 
the  most  economical  gains  and  the  most  satisfac¬ 
tory  growth  will  result.  White  haired  hogs  cannot 
safely  be  allowed  to  forage  on  rape  when  the  plants 
are  wet,  without  danger  of  blistering  the  skin. 
Where  oats  or  barley  are  used  in  the  mixture  it  is 
well  to  allow  some  of  the  stalks  to  grow  up  and 
head  out.  After  ripening,  the  oats  or  barley  ker¬ 
nels  will  rattle  off,  and  under  favorable  seasonable 
conditions  promptly  germinate  and  provide  a  most 
excellent  second  or  Fall  crop  of  forage.  Mixtures 
of  salt  and  ground  limestone,  equal  parts,  should 
be  kept  before  growing  hogs  at  all  times.  Rye  and 
wheat  provide  early  forage  but  supply  very  little 
nourishment.  They  soon  become  coarse,  and  un¬ 
palatable.  Soy  beans  provide  a  cheap  source  of 
protein  and  when  grazed  in  connection  with  fields 
of  corn  that  are  being  harvested  by  what  is  known 
as  the  “hogging  down”  plan  greatly  cheapen  gains. 
Perhaps  the  most  use¬ 
ful  function  of  forage 
crops  is  to  provide  pigs 
with  areas  that  are 
comparatively  free  from 
parasites  and  by  induc¬ 
ing  exercise  keep  the 
growing  animals  in  a 
healthy,  vigorous  condi¬ 
tion.  If  hogs  are  forced 
to  exist  wholly  on  for- 
age  plants  without  a 
grain  supplement,  the 
gains  will  be  slow  and 
scarcely  profitable. 
Brood  sows,  however, 
will  live  on  f oi'age  crops 
alone,  after  the  pigs 
are  weaned  and  their 
use  flushes  the  system 
and  creates  a  condition 
especially  to  be  desired 
with  breeding  matrons. 
f..  c.  M. 
Corn  for  Hens  in  Winter 
In  a  recent  issue  George  A.  Cosgrove 
advised  poultrymen  as  cold  weather  came 
on  to  increase  the  corn  in  the  feed  of 
pullets,  until  by  the  last  of  November 
two-tliirds  of  the  whole  ration  was  corn. 
Will  he  state  how  long  he  would  feed  the 
extra  corn,  and  whether  he  would  give 
it  to  laying  hens  as  well  as  pullets? 
A.  F. 
THE  advice  to  feed  more  corn  to 
laying  pullets  so  as  to  avoid  a 
late  molt,  and  so  keep  them  laying  right 
along,  comes  from  a  very  successful 
poultryman  in  California.  He  finds 
that  to  be  his  best  way  to  ovtrcome  the  tendency 
to  molt  in  the  early  pullets,  after  the  first  clutch 
of  eggs  are  laid.  Of  course  the  molt  in  old  hens 
is  unavoidable;  nature  gives  them  a  new  dress  when 
they  will  need  it  most,  during  the  long  cold  Winter 
months.  But  with  pullets  the  case  is  somewhat 
different.  They  are  losing  and  gaining  feathers 
most  of  the  time  in  late  Summer  and  early  Fall, 
and  their  feathers  are  not  old  and  broken  like  the 
l  ens.  Still  the  instinct  to  molt  with  the  coming  of 
cold  weather  is  ihere,  and  of  course  that  means  a 
stoppage  of  eggs. 
The  philosophy  of  feeding  more  corn  is  something 
like  this :  Corn  is  the  main  heat-producing  element 
in  the  pullets’  feed ;  also  it  furnishes  the  fat  for 
the  yolk  of  the  egg,  which  is  half  fat.  Now,  if 
there  is  only  corn  enough  in  her  feed  to  produce 
the  egg  yolk,  and  the  increasing  cold  calls  for 
more  fat  on  her  body  to  keep  her  temperature  up 
to  its  normal  100  degrees,  the  pullet  is  quite  liable 
to  use  that  corn  for  warmth ;  stop  egg  production, 
and  use  the  protein  in  her  ration  to  produce  a  new 
crop  of  feathers. 
As  to  hens.  I  would  increase  the  quantity  of  corn, 
but  not  to  so  great  an  extent.  Thdy  must  molt  any¬ 
how,  but  the  increase  of  corn  in  their  case  would 
go  to  make  them  warmer.  I  would  feed  cracked 
corn  and  whole  wheat  in  the  morning;  increase 
the  proportion  of  cornmea!  in  the  dry  mash,  and 
feed  whole  corn  at  night,  all  they  would  eat.  The 
small  round  flint  corn  of  the  East,  if  it  can  be  had, 
is  preferable  to  the  big 
flat-kerneled  dent  com 
of  the  W'est. 
I  remember  hearing 
Professor  East  of  the 
N _-w  Haven  •  Experiment 
Station  lecture  at  a 
meeting  of  the  Connec¬ 
ticut  State  Board  of 
Agriculture  of  which  I 
was  then  a  member.  He 
had  succeeded  in  breed¬ 
ing  our  field  corn  until 
it  contained  14  per  cent 
of  protein.  Wheat 
ranges  about  12  per 
cent,  ordinary  corn 
about  7  per  cent. 
Oats  would  be  a 
splendid  part  of  the  ra¬ 
tion  if  we  could  get  rid 
of  ‘the  hulls.  Ileus 
won’t  eat  many  of  them 
unless  driven  to  it  by 
hunger.  Oats  should  be 
ground,  sprouted,  or 
boiled  until  soft,  and 
then  fed. 
“How  long  to  con¬ 
tinue  feeding  the  extra 
corn  to  pullets?”  is 
Rhode  Island.  She  has  had  quite  remarkable  success 
at  raising  White  Hollands,  and  our  people  have  been 
much  interested  in  reading  about  her  methods.  Now 
we  print  two  pictures  of  her  tlock — one  of  older  birds 
and  one  of  partly  grown  poults.  We  also  repeat  the 
notes  by  Mrs.  Bennett.] 
THIS  is  the  method  that  I  have  used  for  a  great 
many  years.  Gather  the  turkey  eggs  daily 
and  keep  in  a  moderately  warm  place.  I  turn  them 
over  every  two  or  three  days,  until  ready  to  set.  If 
you  use  common  barnyard  hens,  as  I  do,  for  moth¬ 
ers,  powder  them  well  when  you  set  them,  and  two 
White  Holland  Turkeys,  Hatched  July  15 
or  three  days  before  the  eggs  are  ready  to  hatch. 
Do  not  feed  the  young  poults  the  first  day  they  are 
hatched. 
When  the  young  poults  are  well  off  the  nest,  give 
them  some  clean  dandelion  leaves,  chopped  fine.  The 
next  day  give  hard-boiled  egg  and  shell  (chopped), 
cracker  crumbs  and  chopped  greens;  mix  and  mois¬ 
ten  with  a  little  milk.  Continue  this  for  two  or 
three  days.  Give  a  little  sour  milk  also.  Follow 
this  diet  with  a  cup  of  hominy  or  meal,  a  heaping 
teaspoon  beef-  scraps  and  a  tablespoon  or  more  fine 
“baby”  grit ;  scald  well  with  boiling  water.  Add  a 
cup  of  sour  milk,  not  too  sour  at  first,  and  put 
enough  wheat  bran  in  this  mixture  to  make  it  light, 
not  sticky.  A  hard-boiled  egg  chopped  and  added 
to  the  mixture  often  help  the  poults  to  learn  to  eat 
the  mixture,  if  at  first  they  do  not  take  to  it.  As 
the  turkeys  grow,  larger,  quantities  are  needed,  but 
the  proportions  are  kept  about  the  same.  Feed  five 
times  daily  until  the  birds  are  three  weeks  old: 
then  three  times.  I  use  the  above  mash  for  my  tur¬ 
keys  until  they  are  several  months  old.  then  I  give 
whole  oats  for  one  meal,  and  rolled  oats  are  thrown 
out  for  them  when  they  seem  to  want  something  be¬ 
tween  meals.  My  poults  are  usually  four  months 
old  before  I  give  them  whole  oats,  and  I  give  no 
corn  until  they  are  six  months  old.  Keep  grit  and 
sour  milk  before  them  all  the  time.  I  give  very 
little  water. 
Look  between  the  wing  quills  for  lice.  When  the 
little  ones  are  a  week  old  lice  may  be  found  on 
Raising  Turkeys  in 
Rhode  Island 
[During  the  past  year 
we  have  had  several  ar¬ 
ticles  on  turkeys  from 
.  Mrs.  Geo.  C.  Bennett  of 
