St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1873-02-07


always been considered to stand first,
or to he the hest by marketmen, and
by the consumers, and are known as
Rhode Island, or Naragansett turkeys.
This is owing to the great attention
given to breeding them, hut more par
ticularly to their being fed, from the
chick to maturity, on grain or its equiv
alent consequently they present "a
plump. solid appearance, and are found
none the less so in reality; while III
other places. or III some, at least, are
left wholly or i'll part to take care of
themselves, and subsist on grasshOppers
and the like, until later in the season,
when their food consists more particu
larry of acOrns, chestnutS, seeds from
different plants, and what they may
chance to get from grain fields. The
following is about the course | take in
breeding and in the general manage
ment of turkeys:
First. a selection is made of the num-
Der of hens intended to keep, which is
from to II. the entire flock varying
from 30 to 300, and consists of all the
old hens that have proved to lay about
the desired number of eggs. to sit we'll,
and to take good care of their young.
The deficiency, if any, is made up of
Young hens, perfectly formed. and of
] - 4 Ia.
anyways related to the hens, from out
side the neighhorhood be particular
in this selection to have one of large
size and perfectly formed, as more de-
ponds upon the male than the female
i'll their progeny, as regards size and
other qualities. During the winter SEA
son. or until within two or three weeks
of the time of their beginning to lay.
they are fed quite moderately. as it is
known that if kept i'll high flesh. or are
very fat. they are not apt to lay as
soon. nor to do is well in other respects ::
the desire is to have turkeys Matched
10y the middle of May, but not much
later. III order to have them ready for
the Thanksgiving market. though per
haps half are kept over to Christmas.
Their feed when Young. consists ofcorn
ground coarse. and sometimes merely
cracked. Afterwards il is given to them
whole. and aS before stated, continuing
down to the time of killing. though it
is greatly increased for the last four
weeks, when they are given all they
will nosSihlv eat. Some feed, III addi-
water. and in this state i left over
night. or for few hours. then given.
If IL breeder raise and mature two-thirl>
ot the number hatchcd he considers
that he has pretty good luck.
No particular preference il given t"
any particular breed or color. excluding
the pure white, and those with any
wild blood neither of these are wanted
though Il few of the pure white are oc-
ca>i"nally seen: some say they are
kept for their feathers, which are mixed
with those of geese and sold us the
genuine. ANY color, common or I'M
common to the turkey tribe, may he
found here. and sometimes i'll Il single
/ flock. The bronze turkey, that adver-
| tiSemcntS speak so favorahly of. is quite
common. hut is not regarded with as
much favor as those of most any other
color. As regards the wild turkeys.
they We're introduced here some fifteen
years ago. and bred with others for two
or three Years. when Il great r desire
existed to get rid of them than ever did
| to get them. The objection to these is
their wild, rowing disposition. even
when p">scSSing but one quarter of the
wild blood. As natural consequence
! it required too much time and atten-
ton to keep them on ones own premises
and they were bred out or disposed of
as soon as possible.
have been particular i'll speaking of
this kind of turkeys. and of one or two
col"rs, Tor | notice something similar
advertised, and at prices far i'll excess
of their value, lis appears to me quite
evident.
The average weight of the best lots
of turkeys is about III lbs at Thanks
giving, and l3lhs. at Christmas, though
Il very nice lot go little above these
figures, while common to fair. fall a
little below. Single male turkeys !
months old and weighing 20, -. and
- lbs. alive, are quite common in the
best tiocks. There was raised and sent
from this town to the Providence and
Boston market at Thanksgiving about
II tons, and about the same quantity
at Christmas. To these quantities NAV
he added u or > tons that were bought
10y outside dealers. or went to the home
markets. The price in general was 22c
per H., though ii few very choice lots,
through competition, were sold for %
and 23!c per lb.-Jonas Coon, in Boston
| CUlHrdtOr.
If You ARE NOT A RAILROAD MAN
| Don't TRY lT.-Therc is good deal of
censllre of the custom of jumping off
and Oh cars when in motion. 1t is
righteous condemnation, but il is not
consistent when coming from railroad
companies. If they truly desire a re-
from they must begin at home. for as
long as employees will jump on a train
! in, Il =,