Evening star., 1914-11-26

dent Wilson last year from Kentucky did
not fall below the New England blrd In
either size or flavor.
Probably no other farm product mas
decreased SO notably within ten years a.
has the turkey crop. The number OF tur-
keys upon the farms at the last census
was 3,66S,70S. Ten years ago 1t was
6,594,695, a decrease approximatlng oo
per cent. While this is partially due 10
the disease known as black head. IT is
believed that there are other reasons.
The Department of Agriculture mas oh,y
recently appointed specialist 10 s'uuy
all the conditions of turkey raising anu
report as to the causes for the decrease.
1t is hoped that this report will alo IN
increasing the annual turkey crop at
least to its former Importance. some spe
cfal experiments have been carried on at
the experiment station at Kingston, X l.
for the purpose of checking the black
head disease, but so far little II any re-
suit has been secured.
Blackhead is a peculiar disease, and
so far its causes have not been uls
covered. 1t has been confined almost
exclusively to New England. and has
not given any noteworthy trouble IN
the southern states. The term plack
head is rather misnomer, because IL
is not a disease Of the head, but or the
digestive organs. One man has cailed
1t a double appendicitis. The turkey
happens to be blessed or cursed with
two organs which correspond TO the
appendix in the human anatomy. Ihe
disease known as blackhead has been
found to originate in one of these or
gans. In advanced stages 1t causes ad-
hesions of the liver Most frequently
it attacks young birds. Any digestive
trouble is apt to discolor the head OF
a turkey in manner similar to It's
effect upon the human complexion.
Many fowls which upon examination
have been found to have died of this
peculiar disease have only slightly
darkened heads.
In addition to blackhead, turkeys are
liable to gapes, cholera and other dis
eases COM
More Susceptible to mon to
Diseases Than Chickens. Tpsx h ~ are
more susceptible to all of these than
are chickens.
Turkeys cannot be raised in large
numbers under present methods. No
real turkey farm exists as commonly
supposed. Most farms raise a few
turkeys each season, but flock of 100
of these birds upon any one farm is
large one. They are free-rovng birds
and do best when they have the range
of a large farm.
Artificial methods of breeding and
incubation have not yet been success
fully applied to any important extent
in turkey raising and are not likely to
be. Turkeys are seldom housed. ex-
cepting in extreme winter, and as they
are most palatable when young, COM
paratively a small number are kept
over each year for breeding purposes
only. The turkey egg has no CONNER
cial value as food.
The two main market periods for
turkey are Thanksgiving and Christ
mas. The best developed birds are Sc
lected for Thanksgiving, and those
which have been q little behind in
claimed that the meat of the Thanks
giving turkey has the finer flavor.
One reason for this is that in New
England the Thanksgiving turkey has
the range of the farm until within a
few weeks of his shipment. He had a
varied diet, in which seeds of many
kinds of plants formed a prominent
place. Acorns have been known to be
a favored food. This food variety gives
finer flavor to the meat than is pos
sessed by the bird whose last few
weeks have been spent indoors, with
feelings of regularly selected grains
OF course. a staple demand for turkey
lasts throughout the cold weather, but
Thanksgiving is the especial day.
No other bird has come into such
general use for holiday time as has
the tur-
Original of Our Turkey KEY. I'll