The times., 1899-11-19
A SIGN OF THANKSGIVING
TO0thSOme Turkeys Already Dis
played in the Market.
Trials of the Farmer in Raising the
Fowl for the Holiday TabIe-Bad
Wenther Curtnils the Local SuppIy
This Near-Priccs ns Conse-
quence Likely to Be Higher.

The supply Of turkeys. an infaIllble sign
of the near approach Of Thanksgiving, is
already in the market. Indeed the num-
Der Of fat gobblsrs has been considerable
ever since the President issued the procla-
nation which signals havoc through tur-
keydom announcing to the vigorous young
OF this feathery tribe that a vast army of
volunteers is wanted for the sacrifice. To
the everlasting credit of the gobblers they
have this year, as in all other years, re-
sponded promptly to the call.
The past turkey growing season has been
somewhat below the average and conse-
quently the prices promise, as Thanksgiv-
ing approaches, to be somewhat higher
than last year The prices now prevailing
are from y to 10 cents per pound.
The elements which so TO make up an
unfavorable season for turkey raising were
explained TO a Times reporter by several
farmers who came 10 the Centre Market
from the outlying country in Virginia and
Maryland. According to their statements
the first and chief disadvantage which the
season has offered has been the unusually
large amount of rain. From early in June
until the latter part of August, the most
critical period in the life of a young tur-
key there has been a great deal Of rain.
Wet weather not only affords puddles il
which the young and inexperienced turkey
falls and is drowned, but is conducive TO
an epidemic of distemper which corresponds
in measure to malaria in a human being.
This difficulty, it seems, is fatal to many.
sometimes wiping out a whole brod. The
cholera which afflicted whole locks, the re-
porter was told, is another result OF wet
and damp weather.
The most fortunate breeders have con-
sidered Themselves lucky if they were able
to save five or six young ones out of
brood Of twenty. In many instances the
cholera played great havoc, sweeping its
victims away as does the Asiatic plague in
the Far East. Thus far no effective remedy
has been discovered for this disease which
is so dreaded by the good farmers wife.
whose heart and soul are set upon the
spending money which is sure to accrue
if she successfully raises her brood. The
untavOrable conditions seem to have eX-
listed only in the immediate vicinity of
Washington, and the shortage in the local
supply CT fowls will in all probability be
made up by shipments from the Northern
States, where the weather has been very
dry all summer, and where, according to
the reports received by local poultry men,
there is a surplus of toothsome gObblers.
The partial supply of the local supply, it
is thought, however, viii have the tendency
to raise prices to a higher level than those
of last year.
The surrounding country in Maryland
and Virginia is noted for its turkey raising
industry and there is scarcely d farmer,
unless he be a truck gardener who does
not attempt to rear a brood annually. To
the Northern or Western visitor who has
occasion to drive through the county about
sundown the appearance of a flock Of tur-
keys at roost high in some tree near a farm
house or at some other elevated point Of
vantage, is striking. Such scenes are char
acteristic Of Maryland and Virginia in the
autumn.
In the immediate vicinity of Washington
where the ground is used principally for
truck gardening, turkeys are not tolerated,
for their disposition to destroy plants and
vegetables in their search for bugs and
worms is very eXasperating to the garden
er. In a tobacco growing country, howev-
er, notably in western Maryland and
southern Virginia, the birds are considered
Indispensable. They catch the worms
which infest the tobacco and threaten de-
struction to the plants. Young turkeys
less than hah-grown, bring 81 apiece.
Large broods of them are kept by every
tobacco grower. who drives them into the
fields and usually secures a small colored
boy to keep them there.