The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1890-04-05
TURKEY TALK
The Juicy Bird Which is the
Epicure's Delight.
Where Choice Turkeys Abo
How Fed and Markete


Epicures can Away, tell BY the taste q
the turkey what kind Of a summer ha
passed. A dry, tough fowl means
season of few rains, scant vegetation
and much skirmishing to obtain food
A tender, juicy bird, with . game,
flavor, on the other hand, indicates tina
the season has been a prosperous one
and tho grasshoppsr crop large.
A fewyears ago the New York mar.
kets were supplied with turkeys by
Connecticut, New Jersey and Long
Island, but the consumption has in.
creased to such an extent that the
nearby crop is augmented by tons Of
turkeys from the South and West.
The Connecticut turkey is par excel
lence the choice bird. No section of the
U-ited States Goa compare with the
Nutmeg State in raising them. The
natives have q knack of producing
larger, plumper, juicier and mora ex.
quisitely favored gobblers than can DO
found elsewhere. They inherit it from
their ancestors, who from colonial times
have been great turkey raisers. Large
numbers of turkeys are not kept by the
Connecticut farmers, but every farmer
has his flock. From tho time that the
little turk breaks his shell until he
reaches the size and primo condition
that fit him for slaughter great care is
taken with his dict Plenty of milk
and curd in his baby days is followed
by cornmeal mush, wheat and barley.
Later in life whole corn i, fed literally.
From the first the turkey, get q large
portion of their food by foraging in the
meadows and woods where insects
abound.
Early in November the turkeys arc
pretty we'll grown, and they arc then
put through fAttcning process to pre-
pare them for the Thanksgiving slaugh-
ter. Many different methods arc en-
ployed. Some farmers feed all the corn
that the turkeys will eat three TINS q
day. Others shut them up to prevent
exercise, and fced q mixture of -four
and corn meal dough. When the tur
key tires of eating, the dou n is rolled
into pellets and crammcd down his
throat. Oil meal and sunfower seeds
ire also used for fattening; and in some
'ections the Italian method of feeding
walnuts Is resortsd t.. II is claimed
that the rich favor of the nut gives
The turkey the taste Of wild game
In California turkeys are raised in
locks numbering several thousand.
They are placed in charge Of q herder,
who drives them as he would flock OF
sheep They range over miles of terri
Tory in a day, and live almost entirely
BY forasing. Whom tho grain is cut
md harvested, tho turkeys are turned
INTO the immense wheat aad barley
ield, and the birds 10 tho cleaning
md become fat and ready for market at
very little cost.
Through Indiana Illinois and Wis
eondn what arc called 'turkey foun-
dries exist. They are mammoth
ooops. capable Of holding from 1000 to
1000 turkeys. Raeh "fouudry" employs
half dozen teams of horses or mules to
collect turkeys within . radius Of ten
miles and bring them TO tho foundry
daily. Tho farmers raise large Aocks Of
turkeys, In. take very little pains to
feed md core for them. Tho birds
range at largo and find their living q
best they can. Consequently they do
not compare with Eastern birds in sise,
favor or fatnesa
They are sold alive to tho men with
the teams The usual price Is six cents
o pound. but some foeks bring from
onc-half to one cent per pound more.
The fowls are placed in the large room
OF tho foundry. At ono end of tho es-
Enlistment is the dressing room, where
the killing Is done and the carcassss
prepared for market. From eight to
ten men are employed picking and
dressing the birds. They are paid Eve
cents apiece and dress on the average