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Show Holiday Bird Has Very Interesting Growth and Historical Connections How many people when they par-lake par-lake of a bounteous Thanksgiving repast re-past stop to consider anything of the history of "turkey," the bill o' fare's pricipal item? Few indeed, and yet an even smaller number sense the difficulties dif-ficulties encountered in preparing this article for use. When Johnny, Mary, Tommy and Harry all clamour for a "drumstick" before the family is hardly seated at the table, modern parents seldom realize that their great-grandfather's ancestors, over 300 years ago, wished, too, that they might carve four legs from a single bird. To "talk turkey," from a logical angle, one should follow somewhat the history of the fowl itself. It will be remembered that three centuries and about ten years ago, Governor Bradford of Plymouth colony, col-ony, acting in behalf of the Pilgrim fathers, proclaimed and set aside a period of feasting and thanksgiving to God for his mercy and generosity in sparing the lives of the colonists and providing them with an abundant harvest. In accordance with the decree, four expert fowl hunters set out one frosty November morning to obtain the necessary ne-cessary supply of wild fowl. Fortune smiled on them and due either to exceptionally ex-ceptionally good aim or the overabundance over-abundance of game, they returned with enough birds to last the company almost a week. When supplemented by five doer furnished by Indian guests, the turkeys tur-keys served a satisfactory purpose. During the week of praying, feasting and merry-making, the Pilgrims and their redskin friends, established the precedent that gave us Thanksgiving day. It has grown to be an institution embodying some of America's high est sentiments, coupling with it "turkey" "tur-key" in such a manner that the two can scarcely be separated even in the imagination. The turkey is a native of the New World. The redman roaming the vast wilderness of this continent, used the "gobbler" as one of his main food sources. When the first Spanish conquerors con-querors landed in Mexico early in the sixteenth century, they found among the Indians of that locality do7ncsti-catcd do7ncsti-catcd turkeys. Living specimens were sent back to Spain and they soon became domesticated domesti-cated there as elsewhere in Europe and ;Asia. The countries of . Turkey and India, especially adopted the new fowl and from these points of origin the bird spread over Europe faster than the Turkish hordes, finally reaching reach-ing England, where it was definitely known to exist as early as 1524. I There is still a great deal of con-! con-! troversy as to how the species came by its peculiar name. Some authorities authori-ties claim that people of that day had only a vague idea of where this new type of fowl came from, and the the British Isles called it turkey after the land bearing that name. Others thought it had originated in India, and for this reason in France it is still called Tlndia. As a matter of fact, the bird probably came by its name from its own characteristic call of "turk -turk - turk." Wild turkeys, which, before the ; white men and their' guns came to this continent, roamed in countless I bands all .over eastern United States. are the same as the huge birds that I were taken by the Spaniards from Mexico. Millions of these fowls were I known to range the North American continent from southern Canada I (Continued on page 4) of ill-sorted fowls and sold them out of the state at Christines time. Since that time the turkey industry indus-try in Utah, with the exception of a few minor setbacks, has constantly grown until last year nearly SO cars of choice, standardized birds were shipped to the Xew York and Pacific Coast markets, with the Utah Poultry Producers Cooperative association directing di-recting the grading and marketing. This year, for the first time in history, his-tory, most of the pools in the seven north and west states, including. Utah, will be marketed as one unit through the newly organized Northwest Turkey Tur-key Growers' association. The 1930 Thanksgiving pool marketed through this organization totaled over 65 cars and the Christmas pool is expected to more than double this amount. Surely the "holiday bird" industry in this section has become a major commercial enterprise. Holiday Bird Has Interesting History (Continued fro ,n page 1) .',uth to the territory now called Pan-i Pan-i ai'-a and as far west as the Rocky I mountains. As late as 1SG0, wild tur-ki tur-ki ys were so numerous that in some counties in north central states they were a nuisance to farmers, descending descend-ing on their newly planted fields like the plague on the ancients and taking all before them. With the advance of civilization and the great increase in the planted acreage of corn and wheat, over-eating was an even greater enemy than the gun to wild turkeys. Unaccustomed Unaccustom-ed to standing in one place and gorg-' gorg-' ing themselves, the race deteriorated when a lazy living was provided by i the farmers' extensive fields, until I now the wild bird is about extinct, except ex-cept in the thinly settled portions of the southwest. Until recently, raising turkeys fur 1 the market could not be classed as an ' industry. Farmers who would bother at all with them, merely had a dozen or so running in the dooryard with their chickens, ducks and children. The birds, unless otherwise trained, are great wanderers and pillagers, and ' just what proportion of the neighborhood neighbor-hood quarrels have originated because be-cause the Jones' turkey flock ate all the young lettuce sprouts in the Smith garden, is still a matter of conjecture. The percentage was undoubtedly high. In many cases, though Smith was a good church member, honest and upright, he would feel no smiting of conscience for making use of the bird lie had accidentally killed when he threw a stick in a frantic endeavor to save his last row of carrots. The point is this: These grievances, combined with the exceptionally high death rate and further loss from animals ani-mals and thieves, naturally discouraged discour-aged many farmers from raising turkeys tur-keys on a small scale. The supply decreased de-creased but the demand remained constant con-stant or even increased, forcing the price in many sections to exhorbitant heights. Here we have a condition existing which lends itself to productions on a large scale regardless of uncertainty and risk. Commercial -turkey growing was thus started; a new industry sprang up that was destined to compete com-pete with other phases of poultry growing as a source of revenue for the energetic and enterprising farm-ler. farm-ler. Until recently the industry has grown but slowly, largely because prejudice, precedent and custom were used rather than scientific research and observation, as cures for the many ailments and peculiar characteristics charac-teristics of the turkey. Old habits and methods of cultivating cultivat-ing the birds were clung to and are still insisted upon by many producers who think the old is sacred and the new dangerous. The turkey is a very erratic bird and no human infant needed more painstaking care than a baby turkey. It is not only necessary for the grower grow-er to use common sense in the handling hand-ling of the crop, but also Tie must become be-come familiar with the habits peculiar to the birds in order that he may not work in opposition to them. i Mrs. Turkey is an exclusive fowl and though not nearly as beautiful and headstrong as her vain husbanfl, nevertheless, she entertains her own ideas about certain private family matters. She prefers complete seclusion seclus-ion when laying or setting. Once started, start-ed, she is a persistent setter, so much so that she may forget to take the necessary nourishment and exercise during the long setting period, and unless reminded may die or finish the setting period in a very depleted condition. con-dition. The young turkey poult is a difficult diffi-cult creature to raise. It should not be fed at all for at least 48 hours, and i then only properly and under careful supervision. Imagine a bird so entirely entire-ly devoid of anything resembling sense that it will stick its head in a pail of water and, forgetting to pull, it out, will drown; try to picture an animal so "dumb" that it will lie down and if not forced to get up, will stay and die, or visualize yourself putting J a few hundred poults to bed each I night to insure their safety. If you j succeed in your mental picturing, you j have a faint conception of the pre-! pre-! cocious reasoning of a small turkey. After the poult is a few weeks old, it becomes more hearty and is vastly more capable of taking care of itself, j unless allowed to stray too far and be preyed upon by coyotes, foxes, weasels, weas-els, skunks or owls. The bird is a J great wanderer and forager, and if turned into a stubble field will not only explore its far corners, but will feed on all the grain that has been left after the harvest, Prior to 1922, Utah raised hardly , enough turkeys to satisfy the local , consumption. In the year mentioned, i however, the central L tali Poultry ' Exchange of Sanpete, shipped the ' first carload to the Los Angeles mar- 1 ket, where it sold for $12,000. Spurred I on by ruccess the marketing organi- J ! zation scraped together three carloads |