Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1898-11-23
Patterned for the Feast.


Few of US who sit around the Thanks
giving board pause to think of the vast
number Of turkeys that are necessary to
supply the demand on this national holi-
day, says a Chicago paper.
The origin of the turkey is lost in the
traditions of the red man, who hunted
the wild bird long before the pale-face
had dOmesticated it, or made the famous
proposition, after a days hunt, in which
Il buzzard and a wild turkey constituted
the amount of game killed.
Nov you take the buzzard and I'll
take the turkey, or III take the turkey
and you take the buzzard."
And thereupon the maxim arose: He
never said turkey to me once"
This favOrite bird, which is an Ameri-
can production, when properly combined
with the necessary auXiliaries Of oysters,
roasted chestnuts, cranberry sauce and
a succulent celery, makes a savOry dish.
in the full praise of which all words ig-
ANONYMOUSLY fail
The following figures from an inland
Kentucky town, one of many which help
to supply the city markets with Thanks
giving turkeys, will give some little idea
of the extent CT this branch of industry,
and of the methods employed to prepare
the turkey for the market and the cook.
The young brood Of turkeys is to the
farmers wife her chief source of revenue
for the autumn and the winter, therefore
she guards them through the dangers at
tendant on turkeyhOOd with jealous care,
and usually drives shrewd bargain later
with the buyer. who begins riding through
the country as Thanksgiving approaches.
Turkeys are generally bought on foot,
and the prices range from 4 to cents
a pound The f1ocks are driven to the tur-
key pens from the different farms. If the
distance is long one, and night comes on
before the pens are reached, the turkey
goes to roOst at shutdown, wherever it may
happen to be, and despite all efforts of the
driver to urge it on.
Turkeys are kept in incOsed pens until
they are ready to be killed, but geese are
paStured out on meadows, and are care
fully watched by small boys, who, with
long sticks, keep them from straying out
of bounds.
Ducks, geese and chickens are generally
shipped alive to the cities but turkeys are
usually killed and dressed for the market
They are not fed for some twelve hours
before killing, and after being picked and
cleaned are put on cooling boards for an
other twelve hours before they are packed
IN cases for shipment. Two thousand tur-
keys or more constitute Il carload
In the turkey house is a row of boxes
with both ends open, and narrowing to-
ward the lower end. These are fastened
along the side of the wall, and into them
the turkeys are thrust head downward
uutl their nedQ ana neck pr0truQe through
the lower opening. Then the ''sticker''
with q sharp knife goes along the line and
cuts the throat of each bird, leaving it to
bleed to death. while a trough underneath
it carries off the blood.
The turkeys wings are confined by the
sides of the box so that it cannot fiutter or
struggle, and death does rot seem to be
painful to it.
When the turkey is dead the wings and
tail feathers are cut off and the body is
sent 70 the picking room. where a num-
Der of men. women and children are en-
plOyed. The turkey is suspended from a
Irvine cord, and the picker nimbly uses
both hands, literally making ''the feathers
fly"
From 1000 TO 1000 turkeys are picked
day, and = skillful hand can average
fifty or sixty each. Three cents piece
is paid for picking turkeys.
Not mach of the fowl is thrown away.
The wings are saved. and are sold for
fans and other things, the tail feathers are
sent to factories where feather busters are
made. the quilts are ground into pulp and
then pressed into artificial Whalebone, and
the loose feathers are used for various
purposes.
When the dressed turkey reaches the
market the prices fuctuate anywhere from
212 cents to 10 cents a pound, so that the
business is not always paying one
From 10000 to 10000 turkeys are killed
each season and sent from this one tur-
key pen, and the reader may judge from
these figures how great a number is re-