The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1905-11-21

young birds, but half that number suf-
fees for Mr.. Palmer's wants The
youngsters are horn III April and May.
and dnsing the first len weeks of their
life are dainrily reared on crackers and
milk. The crackers come by the barrel
from New London, Conn. being Of the
same quality that is purchased for table
use, except that they are in fragments.
They are the broken bits and odds and
ends which the manufacturers eapDot
sell 10 the Usual grocery trade. These
With milk and fed 10 the young turkeys
every morning Then for most of the
day thf birds follow their mother around
The farm. roaming where they will, pick
ing up grasshoppers, cricksts and otlur
deiicatessen Of the fields and swsnIps
Over on Elias Williams FARM slisl
Alr. Palmer you can find any number
of crickets, but on this farm the turkeys
have c.eaned them out" They are good
scayengers and it seems pity they cam.
net be trained to hunt the disagreeable
mosquito. Much has been said aboat
their grasshQpper diet, and the story has
gone the rounds that some farmers give
70 them regular grasshopper menu,
though just how the grasshappers are
provided by these thoughtful agrieultur
lists is not stated"
As mater Of fact the turkeys do eat
9 good many grasshoppers, but they.
catch them for themselves. There is an
aged man in Westerly, now in his Sdth
year, who has an interesting theory
about turkeys and grasshoppsrs. lie
says
Il used to raise turkeys, but gave it
up years ago because there wasn't any
money in it. The blaekhead got into the
fiocks and | was sheer discouraged. But
I'm going to raise another Hook next
year. You see, when turkeys were so
plentiful they ate the grasshoppers all
up. but now that nobody raises turkeys
the grasshoppers have begun to come in
again. So long as there were lots of
grasshoppers you didn't hear anything
about the blackhead. | believe the
ease"
After Mr.. Palmer has fed his birds on
crackers and milk-a diet which he says
lis good enough for anybody"-for the
space of two months and half. he be-
gins to give them oats and corn. He has
lost thirty turkeys this year, so that his
flock at the present time numbers 12O
and to feed this number of hungry
mouths takes two bushels of grain every
twenty-four hours, i'll addition to the in-
sects which the turkeys find and put to
their own good use. They are very fond
of oats. and toward the end of their au-
tumnal career they can have just as
many as they will eat. Shortly before
Thanksgiving the turkey -raisar s.soaks
the oats to en- as one farmer said the
other day. "They don't eat as greedily
as hen does" he added. "They will
come around when you throw out the
grain and eat little and then walk off
to forage around the fields. Then they'll
come leisurely back and eat some more
But they get their fill in the long run.
Trust them for that"
Turkeys are pugnacious The other
day the writer watched two young ones
lighting as stuhbornly as a pair OF, bull
dogs. One of them had grabbed the
other by tile neck and obtained a van
tage hold. and to this he clung as if his
life depended uponFit. Around the two
squawking, excited birds hovsred the old
&rk L.. u,
arate them. He did, not actually inter-
fer, but the moment that the bird with
the vantage grip let go he grabbed him
~in the same way and gave him some
good solid punishment in his own coin.
1t was all very amusing to the bystand
ers, who thought that young Mr. Turkey
was getting just what he deserved
James E. Lord. who lives on the Mys-
tic road, Connecticut, has few turkeys
which he keeps for breeding purposes.
Chief among them is the prize winner
Of the Boston Poultry Show in 1902.
the greatest poultry exhibit ever held.
This proud bird weighs 44% pounds and
is beauty of the National Bronze
breed. He came from Illinois. Mr.
Nose will ship many hundreds of pounds
of dressed turkeys from Westerly before
Thanksgiving tine,s but the toral ship
ment will be small in comparison with
that of some other years. and prices will
be correspondingiy high The farmers
will get 30 or 81 cents a. pound for the
dressed birds and the public will have
to pay considerably over this for the gem
uine Rhode Island product Rhode Is
land for poultry purposes. includes the
ftwo Connecticut towns Of Stoningtou
and North StoniIston, Those Two towns
have become the centre of the turkey
raising business in the Westerly district.
as Westerly itself has grown very few
turkeys latsly. Bur throughout the
neighborhood not nearly as many turkeys
are raised as formerly. Where every
other farm might once have had flock
| of fifty or seventy-fve few farms nov
| possess more than live or ten. r., f..
Williams. Of Mystic, has some seventy
! FIVE. and other farmers in the neighhor-
hood are raising twenty-five or thirty
! each
Mr.. Nose keeps a close watch on ali
| the Hooks of the vicinity from time to
| time. and picks the Presidents bird to-
/ ward the last of the campaign There
! as mes telling as vet where this favored
turkey %ilf come from. but certainly
ek ~ he premier bird of AIr. Pal
Palnler's Stonington flock will be i
I'd f5ara