The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-11-28
WHITE HOUSE TURKEY
None But Rhode Island Birds
Need Apply.
THEIR CULTURE A FINE ART
Their Consumption a Treat to
the Bon Vivant
THEIR CULTURE A FINE ART

Washington, D. c., Nov. N-whethe
or not turkey is to be regarded as sym
bolicaI of prosperity, it is certain tina
this species OF fowl will be nobly repre-
sented on the Presidential table OF
| Thanksgiving day. Already number o
! growers have notified Mr. Mckinley 0
| their intention to furnish him with a bir,
each for that occasion, and anywher,
| from dozen to a score of turkeys viii
be available for the Executive carvin,
! knife on Nov 80. Polite letters Of &C
acknowledgements will be sent to the donor!
each of whom will indulge a happy be
lief that the turkey contributed by him
self has provided the piece de resist
ance' for the White House banquet; but
as a matter of fact most of the birds
viii be given away and a Rhode Island
gobbler will enjoy exclusively the honor
Of testing the digestive capacity of the
Chief Magistrate of the nation.
The late Senator H. B. Anthony OF
Rhode Island. more than twenty years
ago ste the fashion of sending a Thanks
giving turkey TO the President, and since
then the turkey raisers Of the greatest
turkey growing district in the United
States have Wed with each other for the
honor of providing the biggest autumn
bird for the White House table. Senator
Dixon, who succeeded Anthony, perpetu-
ated the custom, and during his term of
service in the Upper House shipped an
nually fowl of notable weight to the
Executive Mansion.
Grant was the first President to receive
Thanksgiving turkey, and it was a
monster, tipping the scales at thirty
four pounds. A gobbler of thirty-one
pounds weight bestowed upon Mr. Har-
rison in 1892 comes next on the record
list. Last year Luke Lonsdale of North
Stonington, Conn. forwarded two
turkeys to Mr. Mckinley. One of them
"a twenty-eight pounder-was eaten by
the President, while the other was a gift
to his secretary. Mr.. Porter Possibly
Mr.. Lonsdale may repeat the compliment
this year.
The finest Rhode Island turkeys are
bred near the edge Of Connecticut, and
the producing district that has become so
famous extends into the eastern part of
the latter state. In this region are
reared, experts declare, the most delic-
ously favored of all fowls of this species.
and the justice of this opinion is proved
satisfactorily BY the prices they COM
mand in the market You can buy an
ordinary turkey for 16 cents q pound. but
a Rhode Island turkey brings 80 cents :;
the latter comes at from s. to Sc, where
as one can get an every day specimen
from Ohio or New York for S1.25 or $3.50
There are good reasons back of the su-
periority of the Rhode Island turkey
The culture of the bird has been pursued
in that state for many years on scientific
principles, and the local agricultural ex-
pertinent station has made special inves-
legations on the subject, securing infor-
nation which has been bost useful to the
growers. One great trouble-indeed, the
greatest-in the rearing of these towels
for market lies in their extreme delicacy
when young, eDidemics carrying off en-
tire flocks. How much help may be
given in such matters by little exact
knowledge is easily understood.
Nearly every farmer in Rhode Island
grows turkeys, keeping a few hens and a
cock or two over the winter, and propa-
eating as large a brood as possible in
spring for the ensuing Thanksgiving and
Christmas. The old ones are hardy
enough. roosting out on the trees and
rarely suffering in the coolest weather.
Stock for market is fattened chiefly on
corn and buckwheat, varied with buckle
berries and the toothsome, though oc-
casional, grasshOpper.
Anybady accustomed merely to the or
binary turkey of commerce has a gas
tronomic revelation before him If he has
not had an opportunity to tackle the fowl
of Rhode Island or eastern Connecticut
It is the food. presumably, that makes
most of the difference, for whereas the
every day bird is encouraged to pick up a
living as it liteth, the gobbler of this
chosen district is furnished with all the
hard corn it can eat. Few Of these choice
birds are shipped far away, almost the
entire supply of them being absorbed by
Providence, Boston, and other ew Eng
land cities. Not club at the modern
Athens but has "Rhode Island turkey
on its bill Of fare through autumn and
winter. and the intrusion of a Western
substitute would be Immediately de-
tected.
Mr.. Mckinley will so to church on the
morning of Thanksgiving day. as is his
custom. and in the afternoon he will at
tend to some of that endless business
which the tenant Of the White House
never can catch UP with. 1t IS expected
that his brother Abner. and family viii
come to Washington for the occasion and
a niece and one or two other young girls
may help to make things jolly.
1t has been q rare thing for President
10 celebrate this autumn festival away
from the Executive Mansion. though Mr.
Hayes was in philadelphia on one occa-
sion. Mr. Cleveland, too, once dined out
on Thanksgiving. and made present of
his turkey TO one Of the White House
clerks. 1t was believed Al the time that
he did so because the public prints had
had a lot to say about thu bird that had
been sent 10 him. describing its size and
the manner in which he would carve it.
This autumn turkeys arrived earlier