The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-08-21

CT in a windrow and the onions left to dry in the sun for few hours before being topped and sacked. For topping and trimming a sharp knife is conven- lent, and when one becomes used to handling 1t the work goes on very rap- idly. The top should be cut on about half an inch from the bulb. the onion reversed and the roots trimmed close. It Is important that the knife be kept sharp as otherwise the tops are partly pulled off, thus tearing the onion and destroying the keeping qualities Over ripe onions and those left too long in the sun after pulling usually prove poor keepers. The crop was marketed locally and delivered in sacks. When shipped to Northern markets it is more desirable to pack the good grades in standard crates holding fifty-two pounds. The Bermuda onions bruise easily and quickly showing the effects of careless handling. hence caution must be used in moving the crop from the field to market.--Bulletin 77, Bee- vile. Texas. Station.
 Turkey Raising.
 Southern Farm Gazette.
 If the boil weevil continues to spread. and there is no doubt that 1t will, Mississippi cotton growers will find that they will need every aid they can get to combat the pest. Much Is being done by the United States De- pertinent of Agriculture in discovering methods to combat 1t: but, like all in- sect pests, it will probably remain with us to the end of time after 1t gets once well established.
 The efforts of the Government to see whether 1t cannot be controlled by ants imported into this country are com mendabie, but If the farmer can find a way of turning the weevil into money he will have less cause to regret that 1t forced It's company upon him. It may sound like a joke to speak of convert ing the weeyil into money, but it is not wholly a joke.
 About two years ago at the Farm ers' Congress held at College Station. Texas. a number of farmers reported that the turkey would pick up many beetles if allowed free access to the cotton patch. The statement was re- peated by several farmers, so that 1t is likely that there Is chance of us- ing the turkey to make money out of the weevil.
 More poultry is needed on most farms; and if the turkey will not only help the farmer save his cotton crop, but will also turn the cotton's enemy into a marketable product, the turkey would deserve to be the great American
 
 not impossible that enthusiastic cot ton growers would ask that the Ameri- can eagle be removed from the coin of the country and the imprint of the tur- key substituted.
 The safe thing is to prepare for war fin time of peace. It Is equally safe to prepare before it gets here to give the weevii warm reception when it ar rives--fn other words to get a start in tnFk0V FQiRfn0 AatdA and bowel trouble are the worst ene- mics to young turkeys. R. L. Blanton says that he has for several years carefully studied the nature and habits of wild turkeys, having long lived where they abound.
 In the wild state. he continues, they are exceedingly hardy and seldom die from any diseasef enduring extremes of cold and heat and continued rain- storms. They become feathered much sooner than the domesticated bird and are much more able to protect them selves from hawks and animals of prey. He reports that the young can ny into trees when two or three weeks old and hide in the grass so that 1t Is almost impossible to find them.
 A few years ago he secured some of the young when two or three days old and raised them with a domestic turkey hen. one of them was a gobbler, which enabled him to secure a cross between the wild and the bronze turkeys He found the cross. he reports, much more hardy than the tame turkeys and pos- sessing the size of the bronze. The half breeds were found less subject to bowel trouble and gaps, and they de- veloped much earlier and had a richer bronze plumage.
 Possibly tne foregoing method may prove valuable one in getting tur- keys that have more vigor and are less subject to disease However that may be. 1t remains that turkeys are profit able birds to raise; and if 1t is gener- ally found that they destroy as many boil weevil as a number of the Texans have reported. 1t will be a question of whether cotton raiser can really af- ford to do without them. They range widely and for the most part pick up for food what without them the farm CT would never realize any profit on.
 There never comes a year in which there is not good profit in turkey rais- ing, provided no more are raised than the land they have to roam over is able 10 furnish food for. Their rowing habit, while causing trouble when the young are very small, is at other times virtue. since 1t enables them to pick up more food than chickens would. Everybody Is eager to get something for nothing: and in raising turkeys on waste products and what are often worse than waste products, one comes as near getting something for nothing as he can hope to do without steal ing 1t.
 Feed Required for 1OO-Pound Gain.
 It is a common saving and a eenaraI