The most successful raisers often pay $15 to $25, including express charges, for a satisfactory gobbler. Instead of hesitating to pay the killing price for the best hen or gobbler in a flock, the turkey raiser should think himself fortunate to secure the best at three or four times the market value of the bird.

Unlike other domestic fowls, the male turkey fertilizes the eggs of an entire litter by the first copulations; the number of hens, therefore, with which he may run, may be any number from three to twenty, according to his vigor and strength.

The male bird should be proud, stately, haughty, ready to resent the presence of a stranger, yet seeming to attract attention to his plumage by the display of its beauty. His voice, as he "gobbles,” should be strong and rapid. He should be always gallant to his wives, insisting that they shall admire him, and nothing and nobody else, as doubtless they do.

The female turkey should be of modest demeanor, yet with a quick, alert, bright eye; ready to respond to the gentle ministrations of the good woman who has charge of the flock; solicitous for the welfare of her young; willing and able to roost high in some tree near the house, where the proprietor may think them safe from thieves; she should have a soft flute-like voice, as she utters her peculiar cry, that so charms her lordly master; these qualities, combined with a graceful form and carriage, as she quietly and gently moves about foraging for food, make her an object of interest to every one.

No wonder that the raising of turkeys had such fascination for many people. Lords and ladies of high degree in Europe; people of all ranks in life, in nearly all parts of the world, engage in this charming pursuit; some for pastime, more for what money the work brings them; but all with an enthusiastic love for the beautiful birds. Even in Rhode Island it is customary to kill off and

market the largest birds, and to breed from late turkeys and small gobblers. This inevitably decreases the size, and runs out the stock. There is a constant temptation to get the largest amount of money possible from the flocks in one season, but the returns are less in the long run. Save the best for breeders. Some experts change

A portrait by Sewell for Farm Poultry, of the first-prize bird at the Mid-Conti nental (St. Louis) show. On this bird" was a plumage with a luster like bur. nished copper; with saddle tips almost pure white, on a body with lines truly thoroughbred, and as a thirty-six pound yearling was a most shapely Bronze gobbler. He carried a deep, round breast, and thick thighs; heavily meated, with fine-grained flesh. He was a quick-maturing tom of twenty-eight pounds at six months and two weeks of age."

gobblers every season, or every other season, but they either test the gobbler as a breeder, or know how his progeny have turned out before they depend upon him. It is

best to have an extra gobbler to fall back on, should the lord of the flock be lost by disease or accident. Many western breeders agree that one can seldom obtain thrifty chicks from a young gobbler, and that a three-year-old is better than a two-year-old. Many successful turkey growers also maintain that to change gobblers every season, or every other season, as was suggested, is to make a mistake, but we don't think so, if you know the bird you buy. I. K. Felch maintains, that if one procured the finest gobbler that could be found, and mated him with extra-choice hens, they could be kept and bred from as long as they lived; not until the gobbler failed should another be procured, and he should be kept with the same hens. The progeny should be disposed of yearly and not bred from, unless mated with a strange gobbler. Of course, the breeding birds should not be too large, as hens weighing over twenty pounds are apt to lay soft-shelled eggs.

Mr Barber adds this note upon the Kentucky method: "For breeders, select broad-backed, full-breasted and short-legged ones of any variety you decide to raise. Twelve hens mated to one tom is the correct number, and some prefer young hens to adult ones, as they will lay more eggs, and if they are heavy-weight varieties, when incubating, they will not break so many, or mash so many of the young poults, as the old hens would do, while the old ones lay larger eggs, and will hatch from them stronger and hardier poults."

CHAPTER VL

CARE OF BREEDING STOCK.

The unanimous testimony of the one hundred and seventy-seven turkey growers who responded to the call of the Farm and Home for essays on Turkey culture, is that to have success in raising turkeys, attention must be given to the care of the breeding stock. This must begin "the fall before."

In the northern part of the United States, and the colder portions of the Middle, they should be housed in winter, though they can stand more cold than common fowls. Freedom to roam, on warm, sunny days, is requisite. In the Southern and Pacific States, and some portions of the Middle States, a shed open to the south is sufficient protection, so far as the climate is concerned; even trees or high rails would be better, if the temperature be not much below the freezing point. Some of the best turkeys I ever saw were in Central Illinois, and never knew shelter, their nightly perch the year round being the ridge pole of a small barn. But the rule to "follow nature" must not be misunderstood. Turkeys in their wild state seek the shelter of forests and thick shrubbery in cold weather; an open prairie, in zero weather, is not recommended for domestic birds.

Where but few turkeys are kept, they may be housed with other fowls, and receive the same feed and care, but are much more liable to disease. In all cases, the floor of the house should be covered six or more inches deep with forest leaves or straw litter, being renewed as often as it is badly soiled and trodden down.

Do not overfeed or starve your flock. The natural food of the turkey, in its wild state, consists of insects, worms, grass, berries and seeds. You can approximate that diet with your domesticated birds by the use of meat scraps, grain and soft feed. After fasting through a long, cold winter's night, such as we have from Maine to Idaho, the birds' crops are empty. The best breakfast then is a hot mush, made of wheat screenings, corn meal, cropped onions or other vegetable matter, as turnip tops,-which grow on the turnips in the cellar,-or mashed potatoes, all mixed with boiling water. Two or three times a week season this with cayenne or black pepper. A little salt now and then may not be objectionable, but that is less essential. Turkeys are not horned cattle, which need much salt. Here is my mixture for the birds' breakfast: One part by measure of corn meal, two parts wheat screenings, one part chopped onions (or two parts mashed boiled potatoes, or two parts raw chopped sweet apples), and one part meat scraps, mixed with boiling water to the consistency of thick dough. Let it stand, covered, until the meal is thoroughly swelled. Fifteen minutes is long enough. Feed what they can eat up clean. Don't let them surfeit themselves. Then throw a little grain broadcast over the litter on the floor, and let them scratch for it. Keep clean water in clean vessels before them all the time, also pounded crockery. Nó need of having an unsightly pile of broken dishes behind your barn or outhouse if you keep poultry. The avidity with which fowls devour this material is astonishing. I have found, by experience, that in the winter time it is better than gravel. Feed chopped rowen or clover occasionally. Keep crushed or granulated oyster shells before them always.

In the short days of our northern winters, not much need be fed at noon. Remember, you are not fattening your turkeys for market. Keep them too fat and the eggs are in danger of proving sterile. Many bread.