FANCIERS’ JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 
This is one thing which has rendered the breeding of Dark 
Brahmas so unsatisfactory to most young breeders, and yet 
I doubt whether any one can afford to raise solid black- 
breasted cockerels from the same mating which produces the 
steel-gray pullets, and sell them at the prices which pur- 
chasers are at present willing to pay. 
Greater attention must be paid to building up distinct 
strains of this variety; and these strains must be well estab- 
lished by years of careful breeding before the results will be 
satisfactory. F. R. W. 

(For Fanciers’ Journal.) 
DO NOT HOUSE THE TURKEYS. 
In reply to some inquiries of S. B. 8., under the heading 
of ‘‘ Feeding Turkeys,’’ we would say, the sooner she turns 
her ‘‘celebrated Bronze’’ out of the barn the better. Tur- 
keys will not do well confined ; they need sunshine, air, and 
exercise. An adult turkey, it is well known, is extremely 
hardy, and bears the rigors of our coldest winters with im- 
punity, even in the open air; for during the severest 
weather, flocks, if permitted, will roost upon the roof of a 
building or the branches of tall trees, preferring those ac- 
commodations to an indoor retreat. A certain writer says: 
‘There is no poor animal so beset with ignorant and 
destructive empiricism as the turkey.’’ 
We have bred Bronze Turkeys for several years with 
marked success, seldom or never losing any after they be- 
come full feathered. Confining turkeys causes them to 
become unhealthy and weakly, and hence unfit for breed- 
ing. ‘Your turkie cock,’’ says Markham, ‘should be a 
bird large, stout, proud, and majestical ; for when he walk- 
eth dejected he is never good.”’ 
Our turkeys have had their full liberty the whole winter. 
During the severest weather they pick around under hovels, 
and scratch in the dirt and coal-ashes thrown purposely for 
them under the wagon-house. They feel happy and fine, 
often flapping their wings, and hopping and jumping 
around like so many playful lambs. We regularly feed 
them under a building, which gets them in the habit of 
going under; they become very tame; then, if a severe 
northeaster showers down its snow and sleet, they go to 
their feeding-place under shelter. Wealways allow them 
to roost out on the fences and on the buildings, excepting 
extremely cold and stormy nights, when they are shut in 
the feeding-house, but are set free the first thing in the 
morning. 
We never feed our turkeys meat scraps, using what we 
have in the fowl-yards. As turkeys are not required to pro- 
duce eggs in winter, we do not think it essentially neces- 
sary, yet we are confident they will not injure them in the 
least. We occasionally feed meat to the young brood, chop- 
ping it very fine and mixing it with other food. 
Experience alone should teach ‘‘S. B. 8.” that -her turkeys 
should not be confined, for she says “‘ they gained well during 
the first two months,’’ when at liberty with the chickens, but 
now when in confinement they refuse their food, and asks, 
“What will give them an appetite?’ All the tinctures, 
ipecacs, and blue pills in the world will not give her turkeys 
an appetite so long as she keeps them darned. Turkeys are 
fond of wandering, even in winter. On pleasant mornings 
ours will take a stroll out in the orchard, where they pick up 
insects, snails, and other titbits which they greedily relish. 
The impatience of restraint and restlessness of the turkey 
render them unfit company for fowls in their dormitory. 


185 
If our friend will give her Bronzes their full liberty, and 
then set her potato-meal dough before them, in a clean trough, 
we will guarantee them to ‘go for it,’’ unless they are un- 
like the Bronze we raise in Jersey. Eee. 
N. J.C. Stock Farm. 



Correspondence. 

(For Fanciers’ Journal.) 
Jos. M. Wanz, Esa. 
DeEaR Sir: I have noticed, ever since poultry papers have 
had an existence, that it is quite common for articles to ap- 
pear in them very detrimental to the poultry interest, sent, 
I have no doubt, by some one who either has a spite against 
some competitor or exhibitor, or some one who has acted as 
judge, or else sore-headed because they did not get what they 
wanted in the premium line. Now, what I want to say is, 
in my opinion, no poultry paper, that has truly an interest 
in poultry breeding, should publish such articles; because, 
nine times out of ten, they are misrepresentations. I know 
just how the exhibitor feels when he does not get what he 
calls justice, for he really thinks his fowls the best, and his 
competitor thinks his certainly are; and when the judges 
work, perhaps all day, so, if possible, to consider all the 
points in the best fowls in that class, they judge on and 
make the awards as they think just, it is due them and the 
parties to whom the awards are given, after the directors 
have concurred, and the premium list has gone to the press, 
that their decision should be sustained by every one. There 
is a time when an exhibitor can speak to the directors, or 
enter a protest against what he may think unfair awards; 
and, as in the marriage ceremony, he should ‘speak then 
or forever after hold his peace.’’? I have exhibited some, 
and when IJ did not exhibit have been called to judge some ; 
but never have I accepted a call to judge except on such 
varieties as I have bred and am familiar with—Leghorns, 
Spanish, and Plymouth Rocks—yet I have heard very un- 
gentlemanly remarks in regard to judging, and that, too, 
when I was losing my time and paying my own expenses, 
as I never received a penny for either. I write this not to 
complain, but to try to stop this everlasting wrangle over 
so-called unfairness in judging. It is impossible to give six 
or more exhibitors in a certain class all first or all some pre- 
mium, when there are only three to be given. All may 
have very meritorious birds, but none of them are apt to see 
imperfections in their own, as it is so natural for a man to 
look through eyes that make his fowls look the best, the 
judging to the contrary notwithstanding. I suppose every 
man has a right to his own opinion, but he has not a right 
to publish articles to mislead the public in regard to awards 
made and published by any Poultry Association, and any 
person thus causing to be published such articles should be 
expelled from all Poultry Associations. 
Very respectfully yours, 
©. A. PirTKin, 
HARTFORD, CONN. 

(For Fanciers’ Journal.) 
Mr. Jos. M. WADE. 
Dear Srr: Will you allow me to inquire of your many 
readers for information in reference to the manufacture of 
“bird lime?!’ It seems to me that this information would 
be valuable to many as well as to 
Yours truly, 
W.S. RockHILt. 
