The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-12-07
RHODE ISLAND TURKEYS
SE4SON'S RECORD NOT WHOLLY
 S.tTISFA CTORY.
Charlestown and Westerly the Home of
 Turkeys.

Charlestowm and Westerly the Home o1
 Turkeys.
 l This is the advice of wholesale marketman who knows all the ins and outs of the business from start to fin l ish: Do not swear so positively on Thanksgiving day that the turkey you are carving is a genuine Rhode Island bird. matched and raised on a South county farm. There's no telling where the gobbler came from, nor how old he may bel"
 Rather uncomfortable advice, the newspaper man thought--sounded like the disgruntled ramblngs of discon- 1 tented man. Why, if. one cannot have absolute faith in the pedigree and breeding of the bird that forms the dish de resistance on Thanksgiving day the l dinner would be half spoiled-at least. in the estimation of a whole army of Rhode Islanders. So the marketman was asked for an explanation, and what he said furthermore did not alto gether clear the atmosphere
 Tn the first place." continued the dealer. there will be thousands of cold storage turkeys in the market in time for Thanksgiving. Birds taken from the ioebox, in fact, will form the prin- cipal supply. An imposition on the public? We'll you cannot exactly say that. Birds are not injured in the | slightest degree by reason of their hav- | ing spent a few weeks or months in the cold storage vaults.
 Some folks l know have q mortal terror of cold storage products, All wrong, on their part. Now, I'll tell you little truth that many of your read CTS will probably not believe More than one of the highest priced hotels in Newport, Narragansett Pier and other New England places serve steaks and roast beef on their tables that have been kept frozen from three to six months. Actual fact, for I sell beef to the hotels in question.
 But to get back to turkeys. The genuine Rhode Island bird, freshly dressed, cuts a very little figure in the retail markets of this state. He is not numerous enough, that's why. There are not nearly enough to feed the city of Providence. and that's why l say don't be too positive that you're carving the real thing.
 Now heres another point worth mentioning All the turkeys that come from down Westerly way make their entry into the city as Rhode Island tur- keys Some are and some are not. For guess l should say that perhaps half of the yearly altering was matched and bred in Connecticut, not many miles over the state line to be sure, but far enough across so that there's no room for doubt on the subject. The Connect icut farmers are shrewd fellows, and they know a profitable trade mark when they see it, Their birds are just as good, probably as those raised in this state, but you can't tell an epicu rean that a Connecticut turkey is the equal of genuine Rhode Island bird So it happmens that all turkeys native to Connecticut are labelled with the fetching words, Rhode Island just as soon as they are brought, all dressed over the line"
 Now. the wholesale marketman who said all this had no intention of spelling any ones Thanksgiving appetite. As for the alleged cold storage or refrige- rated birds the average man can pret- ty generally tell one at sight, and so he runs no danger of being victimized by an interruptions dealer. Not go easy is it to distinguish between a Connecticut and Rhode Island turkey. Both are of the same breed, haised in the same neighborhood breathe the same salt sea air. end are about the finest thing in the gobler line a-going. Of course, the Rhode Island bird is the better-it would be manlfestly unpatriotic to rank Nutmeg turk" quite as highly as his brother of these plantations. Talk ing all the circumstances into conside ration, batter familiar need not concern himself over the above expert advice.
 Turkey raising is an industry some what extensively carried on in the south part of the state. Westerly may prop erly be called the chief center of the market for the greater part of the pro- duct of the surrounding country. n- cudng that of both sides of the state line, is brought into the granite town, which becomes a turkey distributing point every fall just as soon as the first bird of the year is killed and dressed AS rule, the farmers sell the seasons product to one of two or three Westerly wholesale dealers, who go about the country just before killing time, buying up whole nocks. Horace Vose is one of these dealers. He is known all over the state as the man who presents tur- key every Thanksgiving to the Presi- dent of the United States The presi dent always gets the heaviest and incest bird the country produces. a mat ter in which MT. Vose takes great pride.
 Is the presidents turkey for 1899 al- ready selected and marked for the White House table? Probably not, for the simple reason that ''fattening'' time Is still few days distant, Here is a point that doubtless requires elucda- ton. The Rhode Island farmer usually begins to fatten his precious flock four
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