The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-06


 is a native of the new world and is decidedly useful as we'll as beautiful. Though denied national recognition, the turkey is at least the monarch of the poultry yard an ornament to the home grounds. producer of profit when prop erly handled.
 Professor Stoneburn's $ current article deals with this magnificent native Ameri- can bird.
 By PROF. F. +. sTGNEBURN
 It is quite possible that the early set tiers in America occasionally tired of roast turkey and longed for a nice beef steak. since the former were found rather abundantly in most of the eastern parts .S ths new land and could be secured '-sss dttte trouble. It s quite natural ,r rresume tnen, that turkeys and other game were depended upon to in large measure to replace the meats which were commonly used in Europe
 We can also imagine that even the com ma soldiers in the armies of the Span- fss, ccnouerors of Mexico shared this fralRs. According to their reports when trlese invaders swept into this unknown land they found turkeys both wild and domesticated, in large numbers. In fact, they furnished the cheapest kind of meat. How times have changed. Few of us are privileged to eat enough turkey to cause our appetites to become jaded. And if the turkey continues to lose ground. to decrease in plumber in tn ? future as it has steadily done in the past. it will soon become a luxury to be en- joyed only by the wealthy
 Turkey Plantation Decreasing
 Thrifty housewives. with Thanksgiving feasts in mind, will view with consider able alarm the figures in the United States census which have to do witt. our turkey population.
 In 1899 there were over 6. 900 turkeys on the farms and ranges of the United States. in 1909 just decade later, there were 3600.000 a startling decrease of Al Ter cent. In brief our turkey floclss had been almost cut in half. And. or course, in that same period our popu- latien. the number of consumers, had increased 21 per cent.
 Decreased supply--increas demand. Doesn't this clearly explain Thy our tur- key dinners are fewer ln number than formerly. why the price has mounted t,' such high level? No one has satis- factorily explained just why the turkey crop is steadily dwindiing. Probably nc single cause is solely responsible. A number of factors must be taken into account Scientists connected with cer- tain government experiment stations are patiently working at the problem. Hasten the day when they "nall have it fully solved when the great droves of tur 7 keys will again be seen on countless faims, and their savory carcasses on every table in land.
 As previously indicated, the turkey is a native of the western continent, and was unknown by the older n.tfons until the new land was discovered. Its size and beautiful appearance, coupled with it's value as producer Of deiIc:ous meat. attracted the attention of many of the early explorers, who took or sent home many specimens early in the sixteenth century. It was known in England as early as 1524. and about i550 it appeared on the crest of an English nobleman. France and Spain received importations at approximately the same data did England
 There may have been several subdivi- sions of the turkey family found in tie wild state, but the more important, the stocks from which our dbmesticated va rieties have probably descended, are the northern wild and the Mexican wild. These two differ somewhat in size and plumage color, and 1t Is quite conceiv. able that through crossing them in va rious ways and using sucn sports as have appeared from time to time, the several distinct domestic kinds weic evolved.
 American Varieties
 American poultrymen recognize seven Varieties. Tn Europe we find several oth- CTS, certain of which might possibly be of much use here. Below appears the American list, with desired weights ot sdults of both sexes.
 Weirhfs