The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-11-24
fBy Emily Ennet.)

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 The blustery winds and wintery weather of the past few days have i suddenly brought to the reahza- ton that Thanksgiving is but a short and quickly diminishing space away. l That this unique celebration ,estab- l lfshed by a dauntless. God fearing band of religious eSiles, should be so 1 generally observed throughout the length and breath of this great coun- try is particularly beautiful and par ticularly fitting. So closely is the custom observed that the turkey, which then, in it's wild state abound ed in New England, and which was | the chief meat of the first Thanksgiy- ing dinner, still graces the tables of OH who can afford that deIicacy on the last Thursday of the month of November. We must give the tur- key due credit however, for we, fear that it is not so much an earnest en- deavor to follow closely the custom of our ancestors as it is because of the delicious flavor of the bird itself that we order ''the biggest and best that the market can provide for us.
 Bridgeport Eats 15,oOo.
 In Bridgeport the number of tur- keys eaten at Thanksgiving time av- erages about 15,000- The greater part of these come from Michigan and Ohio and a few from Tennessee.
 Those from the Tennessee district
 
 other two states as they are rather of the wild variety and are much thinner than the others.
 According to William F. Behrens, proprietor of the Behrens Meat Mar ket on Fairfield avenue, some twenty or twenty-five years ago there were any quantity of turkeys raised in this district but the more variable eli mate of the past few years is too se- cere for the turkeys which cannot l1r Ia -
 About 1.000f Of the 15,0O0 birds will come from this section, Newtowns New Milford, Kent and nearby towns being the principal places where they are obtained. This year the native if turkeys are better than the western I some ten cents pound in favor. of f the birds raised about here.
 Prices 2s-S2 and Ss-4o.
 The price for western birds thfis fcents per pound while native turkeys l will sell for about 38 to 40 cents. This 1 difference in the turkeys is due to the l fact that we have had rather dry weather in this section and the far mers have had good luck with them.
 Alderman John H. Coughiin, man ager of The Cudahy Packing Co, has just returned from Ohio where he has been selecting turkeys for the Thanksgiving sale in this city.
 .'The supply will be about the same l this year as other years said MT. Coughlin this morning, land the mar | ket will be plentifuIly supplied. i Shipments are a little late in arriving due to the hesitation of the farmer because of the quarantine scare. The l quality is very good this year but not so good as though they. had had cold CT weather in the middle west In the cold weather the turkeys stand about ared take on flesh while when the weather is mild they roam con siderably and consequently do not fatten. Many of the farmers with whom talked were uncertain as to whether they would sell their stock now or hold them over during the colder weather for Christmas mar ket.''
 The Quarantine Scare.
 The quarantine scare is not due to the fact that poultry are subject to the foot-and-moutb disease but to the fact that they are likely to carry the germs on their feet and for this reason the whole farm where symp- toms are found absolutely is quaran- tined. No produce of any sort can leave it, the owner is not even per- Initted to drive his horses on the pulp lie highway. and in some cases his children are not allowed to go to school until the exposed <stock has been done away with and the entire u. the disease, moreover, is readily com nunicated from farm to farm by cats. dogs, poultry, and human beings. the local authorities exercise their own discretion in determining what re- Str1ctfOnS should be placed upon shi n- ments of produce from the area in the immediate vicinity of the infect ed farm. These areas are so limited in extent, however, that the amount of poultry that may thus be prevent <El -m~~s -I-$-- market is an inappreciabIe percent age of the total supply. Poultry from the unaffected areas in, the verf- ous quarantined States can be moved freely without the least danger of spreading the disease or Of iniurine the health of the consumer. The dis ease does not affect poultry at all. and the Federal quarantines of va 1 rious states-14 in a11-now lay no embargo upon shipments of poultry. For instance, Rhode Island can still send out her Thanksgiving turkeys, although no cattle, sheep or swine can leave her territory.
 Exclusively American.
 It is interesting to note that the turkey family is an American one ex- cIusiveIy. The common wild turkey is found in North Carolina, north # west and from the Atlantic to Texas In New England where. 1t was once abundant it is now extinct and it's final extinction in all quarters is ex-- pected in the near future. Of course the turkeys used at the first Thanks giving were the wild variety, there being at that time no domestic tur- keys.
 The. turkey is very rnigrator, bird and. it's habit of passing over I great distances when wild, is retain ed in it's domestic state much to the annoyance of its owner, not to men, | hat nf n ai oh dary fences are not recognized by this \ traveller.
 The wild turkey gobbler when full grown, which is at the end of the third year, weighs from 15 to 20 fb s., although many gobb1ers weighing