The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-31
TURKEY QUEEN OF TEXAS.
Says She Can Readily Clear Twenty
five Hundred Dollars "A Year.

five Hundred DOllars rear
New York. Dec 2s - "I made $500
last wear raising turkeys" said Miss Ar
ilta Martin. a young woman who is known
in Texas. her native state, as the Turkey
Queen.
Because live in Texas, however you
must not call my place turkey ranch.
IL is simply a wtll-conducted farm, and
other things are rIised beside turkeys. In
deed until five yehrs ago we didn't raise
our own turkeys even for Thanksgiving
and Christmas.
II began with 1--we hens and gobbler.
You know | SUPPOSE that a turkey hen
almost invariably lays thirteen eggs be-
fore she begins ID set and also that she
lays two filters pr eggs year Weil'
that first year. OF the 125 eggs set in the
spring, all hatche1 excepting five, and l
raised III birds.
"In the autumi when my hens laid
again. 1 followed my original plan of buy
ing extra eggs, out was neither so sue
cessful in the h itching nor the raising,
bringing up onI seyenty-nine. Yet 70
ana M makes DC, so when 1 tell you
that I sold those turkeys at an average
price of 81 cents. ycu viii see that l had
a snug little sum foI my trouble. AS that
was nv first year the food had cost me
personally nothing. My father having told
me at the beginning to go ahead and raise
all the turkeys l wished to.
However when the second year began,
although / started out with the same six
birds, / determined to put myself on
business basis with the rest of my family.
so / used a large part Of. my earnings
Of the year before in buying food as well
as building fowl houses and yards. Then
l followed the plan of the previous sea-
son in every particular, excepting that 1
added five Bramah chickens-hens, OF
course-to my hoci. These / set on tur-
key eggs about thu same time that 1 did
my turkeys and when they Matched out 1
gave all the little ones to the chicken
hens to mother aud turned the turkey
hen out into the pasture to lay enother
litter of eggs This they will generally
do in the spring when. not allowed TO raise
the first brood. That spring raised POO
turkeys and in the autumn 2S4 more. This
time / did not sell all. Instead, in
creased my stock o fifty.
From that flock of fifty L sold 1,400.
otter increasing my flock to 100 and fur
nishing the table with as many turkeys
as the family cared TO eat.
"Of course my methods have changed
very much since the flock has increased
from five 90 one hundred stock birds. 1
no longer use hens TO hatch the eggs, but
incubators. buy the food by the quantity
and plant acres and acres of small grain
10 give them green food. 1 plant whole
fields of snallots and peppers as well as
corn and / employ two women and sew
eral boys to attend 20 them, yet, in spite
of all these expenses. last year l cleared
more than twenty-five hundred dollars.
THE greatest trouble about raising tur-
keys is with dews and rains when they
are young. Young turkeys should be hous-
ed at night in a house or covered yard and
not allowed TO run into wei grass. AS food
for the birds | use bread of unsifted, UNI
sailed corn meal into which a good guam
tity of red pepper Is mixed. AS green food
for them until they are old enough to look
out for themselves, ! feed them the ten
der tops of shal!ots, chopped fine. After
they pass their fourth month / treat them
pretty much as sheep, feeding them twice
q day. morning and night
my birds meet with ready sale and al
ways fetch good prices. l take orders for
birds fattened on fancy foods, such as
NUS etc, which are supposed 10 flavor the
flesh and Of course these turkeys bring
high prices. / see no reason why other
women should not succeed in the work
ard would be only too glad to give all as
sistance in my power 80 them.
Lafayette w. Laws.