Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-19

OF course the turkey has an inalienablc
right to strut; he has figured so long "a
the gastronomic center of attraction on
Thanksgiving. But in the light of recen
investigation he is not the whole SOW tina
he evidently thinks he Is, and the major.t
of the good people of the United States
hold him to be around Thanksgiving time.
In the first place, and astonishing as it
may seem to the small boy wio is already
looking forward to the coming feast not
enough turkeys are raised in all America
to give every one of Uncle Sans thankful
sixteen million families a nat.onll bird TO
the Thanksgiving dinner. All told the
states raise yearly only about SIX and a
half million tn keys on their five million
farms, and if all these turkeys were killed
to make a Thanksgiving festival, some n n
million and half famile s would neces
sarily have to go turkeyless to bed.
But the yearly crop of the national bird
is by no means marketed In toto around
Thanksgiving week Accord ng to the poul-
try statistics of the country. only about
two million turkeys find their way into tn j:
stomachs of this happy people during the
month of November. despite the fact that
those of us who are so forum lte as to get Il
slice of tender breast, o. golden brown
drumstick, fond.y cherish the thought that
all the rest of our fellOw-countrymcn have
been equally favored.
better saved for the Christmas hol days.
Indeed, Christmas. not thanksgiving. Is
the real turkey day. Last Christmas Uncle
Sans nephews and nieces took care
about a million and half more tn keys
than they did anksgiv.ng. Thus all
except million members of the annual
turkey crop are accounted for. Or these
the statistics would have us believe that
half are killed and plucked to supply the
market at other times than Thanksgiving
and Christmas, while the rema. ming five
hundred thousand are kept by the farmers
as breeders for the next years crop.
Hard to Raise.
This remnant of aOnce mighty st-utting
army is entirely sufficient for breeding
purposes. Each turkey can be counted on
to lay about twenty-five eggs, and every
egg to produce a poult. Over 100000
poults are Matched annually, number suf-
fcient to give all but 100000 families a
turkey for holiday time. But turkeys are
finicky fowl A thousand and one things
combine to kill them off just when the
farmer is congratulating himself over the
prospects of fattened purse around
Thanksgiving time. Wet weather espe-
cially works havoc with the fiocks; tur-
key cannot withstand a damp spell as do
chickens or geese. So when killing time
rolls around with the first week of Novem-
Der the turkey crop has been cut almost in
half, despite all that the raisers could do,
and they generally strive hard to save
their focks, for there is big money in tur-
keys for them During the last decade the
price per pound has doubled, and the great
er part of this money has found it's way
into the pockets of the farmers.
And right here 1t is proper to wonder, In
view of the money there Is In them, why
the American farmer does not raise more
turkeys for the gastronomic delectatfon of
his countrymen. There are 100000 farm
ers in this broad land of ours, yet If the
annual turkey crop of the country were
would not be two turkeys, by three and a
half millions, for each farmer to look
after.
of course, adverse climatic conditions
keep the farmers in some sections from
raising turkeys, but even where dry eli
mate is usually assured many farmer
barnyard knows not the presence OF the
turkey. In fact, less than 100000 farmers
raise the bulk of the turkey crop.
Turkey Traditions.
This quarter of a million tillers of the
soil are not all residents of Rhode Island
Turkey tradition would have believe so
though, but when we come down to sohd
facts we find, alas, that the state whose
name appears on the menu in connection
with turkey in nearly every restaurant In
the land around turkey time grows less
than FIVE thousand turkeys, and they are
mostly eaten within the borders of the
state many of whose inhabitants have
never known what a real Rhode Island
turk ey tastes like. For five thousand fowl
even though they weigh from twenty to
thirty pounds each, are not enough TO go
around among nearly half d million people
Nor do the majority of the turkey raising
farmers gain their sustenance from the
hills of old Vermont another common
wealth prominent in old turkey legend
Neither do they make their abode in Mary
land, New Jersey and northern Virginia,
the fame of whose turkeys the epicures
have 81 read abroad these many years
throughout the land.
In short. the real turkey state of the
Union is Just plain Texas, and has been for
several years past. 1t has produced on an
average about three-quarters of a million
turkeys every year since 1900. Missouri is
a close second. and the other leading turkey
states are Illinois, Iowa, Ohio and Indiana,
in the order named, These six states raise
half the turkey crop; with Nebraska and
Kansas they produce considerably over
half. Let the weather during the early
stages of the season be wet in any two
o: these states, and the Thanksgiving tur-
key is bound to come high to the purchaser
As Good as the Best.
Less than a decade ago Ohio and Indiana
were the leading turkey states. and poulter-
ers will tell you that only within the last
five or six years have they been receiving
shipments from Texas and Missouri the
present leaders. In recent years, too, the
Iowa turkey has come to the fore as being
the finest of all turkeys raised outside of
Rhode Island, and the latter's equal in all
respects Iowa turkeys universally COM
mand the highest prices in such discrimi-
mating centers New York, Chicago and
Philadelphia. the last-named town even
paying more for them than It's own dearly
beloved Philadelphia turkey. which holds