Middletown transcript., 1897-11-20
OF Interest
to FarnerS
HE TALKS TURKEY.

HE TALKS TURKEY.
Sherman Hartwell, the prize tn rke!
breeder of Washington, Conn.,. was a
the recent poultry show at Madison
Square Garden, New York, and was in
clined to be loquacious. For 30 years
he has been breeding turkeys, and for
25 years of that time he has been win
ming first prizes with them wherever be
has shown his fowls. He has won more
prizes, it is said, than any other man
who ever bred single line of poultry,
and cannot tell how many there are, for
he says he stopped keeping count Of
them many years ago. He breeds for
exhibition only, and never for the mar
ket, the only fowls that he raises that
60 to the liable being those he eats him
self. He can sell many more fowls
than he can breed or than he will raise,
and for prices that are the envy Of
breeders the world over. II is a COM
mon thing for him to sell fowl for
$25; nothing uncommon to sell one for
$50, while $100 has on several occasions
been paid for the prize winning gobblers
that he has shown at the New England
poultry shows Of dozen years ago or
so, when he was known the world over
as the developer of the most perfect
bronze turkeys ever bred. He breeds
but about so year, never over 70, and
thinks that the latter number IL too
many for a careful breeder to handle
successfully. The highest price he
ever received for fowl is said to be
$3.50 for gobbler to go to England.
but he will talk little about his successes
as, like most successful men, he is mod
est. When he wants to eat turkeys, be
generally buysthem. 1t is cheaper.
81 have heard of turkeys that wei gh
ed As pounds when they are dressed"
he said when when the weight of turkeys
was being discussed. 81 never saw one,
and would go long ways TO m erely
look at such bird. People say they
have bred them. l cannot dispute
them, but guess the steelyards they
were weighed on didn't have the
government stamp, or that the man who
weighed them did not have good eye
sight, or that some one made mistake.
/ have been breeding turkeys for 80
years, and they say that l have won
more prizes for big Turkeys than any
other man living. But never grew
turkey that weighed As pounds. / don't
believe that any one else has, but may
be mistaken at that.
s'But here is All advertisement that
is a downright lie, aud it is in apoultry
Journal at that. A man advertises that
be has got for sale lot of turkeys bred
from 40 pound go5bler out of hens
that weigh from 20 to % pounds each.
That lisa wholesale lie, land foolish one,
too, for every one who has ever raised
turkeys know that such thing is an
absolute impossibility. No hen that
weighs ~ pounds could lay an egg that
would hatch. 1t would either have
soft or stringy shell, and, If it hap
pened to have sound shell, it would
not be fertilized. Such fat turkey hens
do not lay eggs that will hatch. A gob-
bier of that weight would not fertilize
an egg after he was yearling, an d
such advertisements are nothing but
downright lies. Even turkeys cannot
beat nature to accommodate people who
wish to bamboozle would be purchasers.
"The best sized hens to raise turkeys
weigh from IA to IL pounds, and very
rarely try to have an egg hatched from
hen that weighs over Is pounds. They
viii not pr0ducB good. strong; young
fowls. That's all the secret there is to
getting good turkeys. Have the eggs
from healthy, medium sized fowls, and
the chicks will be strong and healthy,
and grow large. That is rule that
never fails"
Mr.. Hartwell was asked how he man.
aged with his sitting hens. ''Oh, get
along all right, because L humor them.
leave holes in my barn, so that they
can crawl in among the haymows if
they like to lay their eggs, and leave
the fallen leaves under the arbor Wit @
hedges that have about the farm. I
keep good eye on the hens, and when
they lay know about where their eggs
will be found. Then go and get them
and keep them until have about II,
which is the best number to set hen
on, as she can care for them without
letting them get cold.
'sIf find hen that shows disposi-
tion to sit, l coax her to make Der nest
where l want her to, without letting
her know it, by giving her material
near the place select, and there she
builds her nest, thinking she is having
her own way about it. You must man
age them just as men have to manage
a woman. Let them think they are
having their own way and all goes on
In first class shape.
IA fter sha has nnaS1a har noet Tnut q
lotof DANNY eggs under her, made
out Of wood or china. Then I get a
dry goods box, and when she settles
down on her nest / cover her with it SO
as to keep away the foxes and skunks
and such animals. l raise the box dur
ing the day if she wants to leave her
nest. and then cover her over again
when she wants To come hack IN har