The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1871-04-11
How TO raise TURKEYS,

nave noticed several articles IN your
paper upon this subject, and have tried
all the remedies therein mentioned and
many others for the diseases to which in
fantile turkeys are subject. AS farmer
for the Hon. John Wentworth Of Chicago
ILL.,, l have been trying for years, ire
spective of every other consideration, to
increase the weight of turkeys. know
it has been the fashion to have turkeys of
the bronze color; but made the color
secondary to size | never kept a small
turkey because its color was bronze, nor
rejected large one because it was not.
We could get our gobblers up to 40 lbs,
but after that every ounce counted, and
such size seemed contrary to nature in
every respect. Their roost was so near
the ground, and they were SO indisposed
to squalk that it was very easy aud safe
thing for thieves to catch them and carry
them away. The most difficult of all
things, however, was to raise them at all.
We had our grease made Of fresh butter
and hogs lard. We had the pepper-corn
the mustard seed, the ground pepper and
milk, buttermilk, curd, whey, &C., for
food. But large majority of them would
die when young,and those that were rails
ed were too lazy to fly to a roost beyond
the reach of thieves. While we had hopes
Of getting fifty pound turkey we endur.
ed all this with patience but the fifty
pounds would not come, nor forty-fve.
Yet we could almost get the forty.fve, or
thought so, depending upon great many
circumstances. When any one wants to
tell big turkey story, let him say "over
forty" That is just as far as he can safely
60. A man once said of three year old
gobbler of ours: eff nothing happens,he
will yet weigh forty-fve," But death
happened, and he died in the forties, al
most tipping forty-four, and we gave up
trying.
After this, we bent our efforts to rails.
turkeys. even although they would be
smaller. Mr. Wentworth sent to the
West, and got me wild turkeys from three
different places. None of them were at
all domesticated. We made two large
enclosures, and winged the wild ones, con.
fning the with them tame females, and fe.
males with the tame males. The expert.
ment was success; nearly every egg
Matched, and scarce a turkey died. In
the fall we turned out the ones with the
main flock, and not one went away They
were not separated afterwards, and last
season they were left to their own course.
The most Of them stole their nests, and
many would hide their young. But in
due time they all came, and two years
experience has demonstrated to us that
the best way to raise turkeys is to give
them they wild cross and let them alone.
While we have no difficulty in driving
them into barns and sheds by day, they
are perfectly inaccessible by night they
not only fly to the tops of the highest trees
and buildings but they are alive to every
attempt to approach them. The wild cross
gives richer favor to the meat, and a
more glistening bronze to the COLOR
Country Gent. HENRY HAY.
Seth Barnes, Of Olena, Illinois, writes
that, "On the Goth of May last, l planted
a peck of the Peerless potatoes. By devid.
ing the eyes, l made AGO hills, but on &C.
count of the drought not more than 300
grcm. These were planted on about H.
10 square rods. The land was very rich
and was worked to the depth of fifteen
inches, and thoroughly pulverized. OLe
handful OF manure was used to the hill,
composed of two-thirds hen-droppings and
one.third leached ashes. The crop was
worked three times with hand.hoe and
was dug the middle of October. Yield
AZ l-2 bushels, or equal to 583 bushels
per acre. Ground seeded at the rate OF
3 1929 bushels per acre, with failure
Of over one-third of the seed to grow.
have twenty potatoes which weigh be-
tween three and half and foul
pounds. One, when dug, weighed ovel
six pounds. These than the Peach blow
es the Peachblow in this region grow,
ILL al - Al l.