Evening star., 1954-11-25
Eat Heartily;
Iodays' Dinner
Turkeys Smaller,
Too, and Thot
Means Less Hash
By Riehord Rodgers


American birds abound this
year. The Nation has a record
81 million of them. That's q
20-million gain in five years.
The modern American bird.
alas, "has lost the grace. agility
and brilliancy Of color Of its
progenitor, but in other respects
has been but little modified"
according to the Encyclopedia
Americana.
American bird? Why, that's
what Turks in Turkey call the
bird we call a turkey. Moreover,
the Turks description is "a far
more logical name for the lordly
m ona archs of Thanksgiving
feasts," says an essay by the Ma
tional Geographic Society.
Big Bird Prices Cut
Grocery advertisements this
year have emphasized that COB
blers are cheaper, with the big.
ger babies undergoing the big
gest price cuts:
A survey in Harrisonburg, Va,
and surrounding Rockingham
County showed that the area
shipped a record 11.186.000
pounds Of dressed turkeys for
Thanksgiving tables. Rocking
ham considers itself Americas
leading turkey-producing coun-
ty."
The 1854 total is about 80
per cent above the amount Of
turkey shipped in a similar pc
riod before Thanksgiving last
year.
According to figures of the
United States and State Agri-
culture Departments, the entire
Rockingham area of the Shen-
andoah Valley produced this
year 6.8 million turkeys. with
nearly S million of them the
small Beltsville whites, averag-
ing not over 8 pounds. The rest
are the heavy varieties, mostly
of big bronze birds.
Cheaper Across Nation.
A survey throughout the Ma
tion showed retail prices Of
dressed turkeys about 10 cents
a pound less than a year ago.
according to T. w. Heitz, man
ager of the Rockingham Poultry
Marketing Coop, largest poultry
producing cooperative in the
country. This means a drop OF
about 81 a turkey, Mr.. Heitz
estimated.
Turkeys have shrunk from the
Pilgrims enormous platterfuls
to more manageable sizes. This
is largely because of researchers
discoveries at the Agriculture
Departments experimental farm
at Beltsville, Md.
Experts there devised tech
niques at getting flesh on the
turkey while he was young, so
he could be butchered at a ten
der age but still have some
weight to him. Before that dis
covery. an adolescent turkey was
a poor scrawny thing and the
grower had to coddle him along
for expensive months before he
got fat enough for the table.
Less Turkey Hash.
BeltSville birds go to market
as young as three months. They
At into ovens better, and small
family can do away with one
quickly. Since Beltsville revo-
lutionized the bird. turkey hash
is encountered much less often.
| Turkeys are dopes. A turkey
poult even has to be taught how
to eat. Unless tom turkeys
water intake is restricted, he is
liable to keep on drinking until
he browns.
The rAZtecs raised turkeys.
Spanish conquiStadorS sent the
birds to Europe as early as 1917.
The most common explana-
ton for calling them turkeys"
is the possible confusion of the
Spaniards' bird with the guinea
fowl, which actually came to
Europe via Turkey.
Male turkeys are vaingloriouS
and fond of strutting; real
drumstick majors.
| Benjamin Franklin proposed
that the founding fathers adopt
the turkey as the national
| symbol.
! It is perhaps just as well his
suggestion was voted down. The
! official seal of the United States
might look peculiar if it had a
tom turkey with clawfuls of olive
branches and arrows.