The Colfax Gazette

TURKEY CULTURE—SALLY VERSUS MARY.

For pure bred poultry pessimism talk turkey to farmers in the gobbler graveyard belt.

"Go talk to Sally," said one of these. "She's got one turkey left out of sixty."

Sally blamed the weather man.

"Too turrible soppy fur poults," said she. "When the atmosphere's agin poults they git cholrey an' snifles."

But "between you, me and the gate post" Sally was to blame, for she hadn't changed stock in ten years, bred only from young birds and reared the poults with lousy clucks, fed them pasty cornmeal and housed them in dirty boxes.

But one day we found a farmer chock full of turkey enthusiasm.

"Yep," said he, "our turkeys are a success, but go and talk to Mary about it. Mary's the turkey raiser."

We found Mary, a pretty, dimpled milk maid, and it was pleasant to talk to her. After we had snapped her favorite hen, Beauty, and while we sat and admired Mary and her turkeys she told us the following interesting turkey tale:

"Turkeys should be bred from adults, kept strong by new blood every year, and poults should be hatched and reared by Mother Turkey for success.

"Chicken hatched poults are inferior. Hen lice kill them quicker than turkey vermin. Hens feed poults filth and drag them to death.

"I dust the turkey three times during hatch—the hen and poults both when she comes off—and put a little sweet cream on the poult's heads to kill head lice and go over them every week for lice until they are six or eight weeks old.

"I house them in a large box, with screen front toward south, and move this box daily so they sleep on fresh ground, and when poults are able to get over the foot screen of their small yard I turn them loose, but always feed at nights to lure them home.

"Cottage cheese is same as meat to turks, and I make it this way: I let skimmilk set in 80 degrees heat, and when sour I stir it and then keep it at 90 degrees for twenty minutes and then hang it in a bag to drain.

"I am careful not to overfeed and vary the ration thus: For breakfast I chop a hard boiled egg with crisp dandelion and sprinkle with grit; for dinner, dry sweet breadcrumbs and cheese; for supper, half an egg, cheese and young onion tops cut fine.

"I lead them with good chick feed to red wheat, the standard grain for turkeys. With grit and water before them and such fare the poults quickly grow, and soon my troubles are over, except to save them from storms and bring them home at night."

BEAUTY AND HER NEST.

BEAUTY'S EGGS.