Evening star., 1923-11-25
Turkey and Trimmings

~ HE turkey is indigenous to North
America and. like the Indian
and the buffalo (bison). he is
u 100 per cent American. He is
also the great national domesticated
bird OF these United States.
With his size. his marvellous beauty
Of plumage. his majestic appearance
and the savory character OF his flesh,
the turkey may Justly be termed the
king Of domesticated fowls.
Being an unquestionable native of
the soil. he was unknown outside Of
| this hemisphere until Columbus or
some other seafaring gentleman dis
covered this continent Is It neces-
sary to state that we are proud Of him?
We may. II we choose. trace his
lineage for thousands Of years. even
which the houseboat OF Noah is said
to have stranded itself on Mount
Ararat.
Formerly the wild turkey occurred
| in large numbers in the wooded por-
tions Of a range extending from
| Maine to Florida and thence across
Texas, New Mexico and Arizona into
Mexico and as far south as Honduras.
The numerous varieties Of domesti-
Gated turkeys now existing in the
United States are without doubt a
development from the native wild
turkey Of North America.
As this country became moro and
more settled the number Of wild tur-
L. OF "a
present time they are found in the
wild state only In the more remote
portions OF their former southern
range.
When the SpAniards conquered
Mexico they say they found the tur-
key In q state Of dom estication
among the Aztec Inhabitants and
sent specimens Of these birds back
to Spain. From Spain the breed
spread to other parts of Europe and
was propagated to such an extent
that later 1t was brought back by
colonists to the United States and
was the foundation from which our
present varieties have sprung: but
to establish the many varieties
known to US today there was ex-
mems OF the wild focks which were
captured for that purpose.
How does this bird happen to be
called turkey?
When the birds were first brought
to Spain from the new world" they
were handled and sold there by jew
ish merchants Of that country. and
fAds "
fused with and called peacocks IL
was natural enough that these Jewish
traders should apply to them their
name for peacock-"tukki." More or
less common use Of this name fol-
lowed, which easily became. In the
English language. our present name
turkey"
Before leaving Europe for America
the Puritans or Pilgrim Fathers cele-
brated their important Christian fes-
tivals by dining OF roast goose. but.
owing to the scarcity Of these birds
imported into the Plymouth colony.
the tender. juicy and more easily di-
gested wild turkeys of the forest,
and learned from the Indians how to
capture them alive. Instead Of the
familiar and weil-beloved goose as
the chief dish at Thanksgiving and
Christmas, the turkey was substitut-
ed and continues to be our most
popular and most satisfactory table
fowl, barring the expense.
Turkey hens are not prolific layers;
they lay in litters. rarely more than
two litters in a season, and In each
litter there are from eighteen to
twenty eggs. For this reason turkey
eggs. which. after all. are moro valu-
able for Matching purposes. are sell
dom offered for sale as food. although
the eggs have an agreeable and dell
icate flavor. A turkey hen that is
broken up" in her brooding and not
permitted to "set" may lay as many
as 100 eggs in q season. r..
II Is the object Of the turkey
raiser to produce birds for sale, so
1t behooves him to set his eggs early
In order that the cock erels and pull
lets hatched out shall be at least
six months old At the time Of mar
keting, which Is principally at
Thanksgiving and Christmas. when
the demand 10 keenest. As the dress
ed birds must be at the distribution
points about two weeks before the
demand reaches its peak. and as 1t
takes twenty-eight days to hatch an
egg. 1t may be seen that Mrs. Turkey
must get busy with her domestic at
fairs by the middle Of March or else
lose out at Thanksgiving.
The small farm turkey raisers sell
their birds to itinerant buyers. who
either drive them afoot or ship them
to concentration points. where they
are forwarded to the packing plants.
At the packing plants they are
slaughtered. dry-picked. placed In
clean paper-lined barrels, about $50
pounds to . barrel. frozen solid and
then placed In storage rooms kept
at . temperature Of about 80 degrees
r. At tho proper time they are
shipped in refrigerated cars to the
distributing points, where they are
sold to the retailers and by them to
the public.
Perhaps you may think that these
are "coId storage turkeys In con.
nection with which there has dsvei-
| oped an upfavorabie sentiment. OF
course they are "cold storage" birds