The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1898-06-03
DAIRY AND POULTRY.
INTERESTING CHAPTERS FOR
OUR RURAL READERS.
How Successful Farmers Operate This
Department Of the Farm-A Few
Hints rs to tho Care Of Live stock
and Poultry.
Facts on TURKEYS.

Facts on TURKEYS.
In an address before a New York
Farmers Institute, Samuel Cushman,
discussing turkeys, said: The largest
1ocks and the most thrifty lookingtu r-
keys are found on farms having high,
dry land which has light growth Of
grass and where new breeding COB
bier has lately been introduced. They
generally do best on land where they
have not been kept for years. AS a
rule, 1t is more difficult to keep them
each year they are kept on aplace, es-
pecially II a large number are grown.
Twenty years ago it was easy for any
one to raise turkeys. When place
or region is overstocked. turkey dis
eases become prevalent. Many in the
east have given up turkey raising on
account OF loss from disease, and those
who produced inferior stock on account
OF WESTERN competition. In turkey rails
ing. as in producing any other crop,
it pays best to raise the best. Much
OF the decline in turkey raising is due
to the use Of stock that has become
sickly and degenerate from injudicious
breeding. In the section mentioned, It
has been checked by introducing vigor-
Gus Bronze males from the west, and
taking more pains in selecting the
breeding stock. Still greater vigor
and hardness have been Immediately
secured on the breeding stock by intro
ducing certain proportion of wild tur-
key blood, to which the Bronze breed
owes much Of its vigor and hardness.
Wild turkeys are not yet extinct. As
only those that have withstood hard
ship and escaped their enemies have
survived, they are the most hardy, act
i've and intelligent of all turkeys. Their
breadth of shoulder and deep chest is
noticeable when they are compared
with domestic birds. They are aston
ishingly compact and solid. Their fea-
lures lie close and hard, so that the
birds weigh more than their size would
indicate. Gobblers, when full grown,
are about four feet high and weigh
from Is to 20 pounds. They do not
get their full growth until the end of
the third year, and increase in weight
and beauty for several years. Gobblers
weighing SO and 40 pounds have been
shot. The hens weigh 9 to Is pounds,
get their full growth at the end of four
or five years, and may be heavier later.
Wild gobblers mate later in the sea-
son, and the wild hens lay later than
domestic turkeys. The flesh of the wild
birds is Of better flavor and is more
delicate and tender. A wild gobbler
from Maryland. used as a breeder at
the Rhode Island experiment station
when four years old, weighed 81
pounds. When received and released
the previous year he was persistent
and determined in his efforts to leave
the place. After considerable trouble
he was captured and brought back, but
he ran away several times before he
was induced to stay on the station
farm. He was once found on q farm
fifteen miles away. He did not mate
the first season. Unlike domestic tur-
keys, the wild gobblers do not have
much red about the head except during
the breeding season. They are hard
to mate with domestic hens. I advise
no one to procure wild gobblers for
breeding purposes If he can buy a half
wild, or, what is better, a quarter
Wild gobbler.