Evening star., 1920-11-21

land states, dress their. turkeys them
selves and sell direct to the consumer
or to city dealers. In some sections
whHre turkeys are quite generally
previous to Thanksgiving and again
shortly before Christmas. what is
known as turkey day" On this day
all those who have turkeys to sell
dress them and haul them to town.
where they are bid on by shippers or
by turkey buyers for various city
produce houses and sold to the highest
bidder
In these sections turkey picking
bees are often held and as much sport
is had at these as at the more COM
mon corn -husking bees. In most large
turkey growing districts, however.
dressing plants have been built to
handle the turkeys during November
and December. the same plants being
used for poultry. eggs, butter. ana
other farm produce throughout the
remainder of the year.
:. IL a4s se-a-s,..,* + = r. -
som {; farmers haul their turkeys in
wagons to these dressing plants,
others drive them in if they have too
many to haul. and still others, il they
are too far away to bring in their
turkeys themselves. sell them to the
nearest country merchant, who in
turn ships them or drives them along
with others that he has purchased in
the neighborhood.
A custom that is prevalent in Texas
is for hucksters to go out from the
different dressing plants for ads
tance Of ten or fifteen or even thirty
miles and stop at each farm and buy
all the turkeys the farmer will sell at
more turkeys is often gathered up in
this way. each. turkey being weighed
and paid fortat the time Of being
In one case 5000 turkeys were gath.
cred together at one point in Texas and
driven by thirty men distance OF thlr-
teen miles in two days A flock OF 700
was later driven this same distance by
five men in a little less than nine hours.
In drive Of this kind a wagon is
driven just in front of the turkeys and
a little corn is thrown to the leaders to
keep them moving. Should any become
lame or tired, as frequently happens
with old turkeys il they are fat they
are placed in the wagon and hauled the
remainder of the way. At nightfail pro-
Of trees where the turkeys may roost.
the journey being continued as soon as
they fly down again in the morning. On
arriving at the dressing plant the
turkeys are again weighed by driving
them in fiocks of about 100 at time
the huckster is then usually credited
with one-half cent per pound for this
work
AS soon as possible after the arrival
OF the turkeys at the pressing plant
I they are killed and dressed to prevent
the shrinkage n'weight that is bound to
! occur if they are held for any time. I'm
(, like chickens. turkeys confined to small
! quarters will eat but little and rapidly
| lose the flesh that has been added while
/ on free range.
"a. The detailed operations involved in
! preparing turkeys for shipment vary
somewhat in different dressing plants.
although the general plan is the same
/ In one of the largest Texas turkey
dressing plants. cages for the turkeys
! into which they are driven after being
I weighed, are built in long row, and
from them an alie!Way leads into n
single cage inside the dressing room
! Not more than fifteen Or twenty turkeys
are kept in the inside cage at a time.
| this being done to prevent the pickers
| from selecting all the small. easily
picked hen turkeys first and then quit