The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1904-12-16
SOME MYTHS Of THE
AMERICAN BIRD
Yhe Turkey, in Truth, isn't the
Real Thanksgiving Fowl
at All.
THE CROP is TOO SMALL
Nc, raft Enough Of Them Are Raised
f~anualiy to Give One to Every
Family in the Year-Mostly
{ Used at Christmas.
THE CROP is TOO SMALL

used at Christmas.
KanS.s City Star: OF course the tur
key mas ar inalienable right to strut
ne has figured so long as the castro
monte center of attraction on Thanks
giving But in the light of recent in
~Tesiigation he is not the whole shoy
1hat he evidently thinks he is and TIA,
majority of the good people of III,
United States hold him To be arount
Thanksgiving time.
Not enough turkeys are raised in al
America to give everyone of Uncle
Sans thankful Is. COZ. 600 families a ma.
tionai bird for the Thanksgiving din.
dler. All told. the United states raises
yearly only about $500, 600 turkeys OF
their 100000 farms. and if all these
turkeys We're killed to make a Thanks
giving festival, some a.5o0.0 900 families
would necessarily have To go turkey
less TO bed.
But the yearly crop of the national
bro Is by no means marketed in toto
around Thanksgiving week. Accord
ing TO the poultry Statistics of the
country only about 1000. zoe turkeys
flud their way INTO the stomachs of this
happy people during the mouth of No
semtser. despite the fact that those who
are so fortunate as to get Il slice of ten
der breast, or goldeu-broWned drum
sticks, fondly cherish the thought that
eil the rest of our fellow countrymen@
have been equally favored.
Sueh sentiment. il at all appropriate.
were better saved for the Christmas
holidays, Indeed, Christmas. not
Thanksgiving. is the real turkey day.
Last Christmas Uncle Sans nephews
and nieces took care of about l.5o0, o0o
Tnuy, In fE.yS tl.t, J." H.. IL ~ ~,
GIVING. Thus all except Il million men,
hers OF the annual turkey crop are ac-
counted for. OF these the statistics.
would have us believe that half are
killed and plucked to supply he mar
ket at other times than THANKSGIVING
aud Christmas, while the remaining
1.aoo, 600 are kept by the farmers as
breeders for the next year. crop
inns remnant of Il once mighty strl,t.
iifae army is entirely sufficient for
breeding purposes. Each turkey can be
counted on to Law about twentv-6ve
eggs, and ever. AT to produce a po,llt.
over II 100000 poults are Matched am
iiuaily, a number sufficient to give an
except 5000. coo families a turkey fo,.
holiday time. But turkeys are finicLy
iowi. A thousand inc one things COM
pine 10 XIII them off just when the
farmer is congratulatfng himself over
'he OF n fattened purse
aFound Thanksgiving time. Wet
weather especially works havoc with
me f1oeks. A turkey cannot withstand
Il damp spell as do chickens and geese
So when killing time rolls around with
the first week in November. the turkey
crop mas been cut almost in half. de-
spite all that the raisers could do. and
tiey generally strive hard TO save their
siocks, for there is big money in tur-
keys LOT them. During the last ten
years the price has doubled, and the
greater part of this money has found
its way int the pockets of the farm
ers.
AND right here 1t is proper to wonder
an view of the money there is in them.
Why the American farmer does moi
raise more turkeys for the gastronomic
delecfation of his countrymen. There
are 5,.ooo, GOO farmers in this broad land,
yet ii the annual turkey crop of the
country were evenly divided among the
farms there would not be two turkeys
by 3,5oO.000 for each farmer to look
after.
OF course. adverse climatic conditions
keep TIE farmers in some sections from
raising turkeys. but even where a dry
ANIMATE is usually assured many a
FARMERS b~arnyard knows not the pres
ence of the turkey. In fact a few more
100000 farmers raise the bulk of
the turkey crop.
The real turkey state of the union is
1ust plain Texas. and has been for se,-.
eral years. 1t has produced on an aver.
age ABOUT 3,o00,o09 turkeys every veal
slhte 1910. our own Missouri is a close
second, and the other leading turkey
states are Illinois. Iowa, Ohio and In
diana in the order named. These six
states raise half the turkey crop: with
Kansas and Nebraska they produce
considerably over half. Let the wealth