Show F ti faey t 21 jil i aili a T i 1 n n hk h K TO PASS FOREVER by L M bennington many a city family man ft nhen hen he be comes to pay from five to seven dollars for his bis thanksgiving turkey this fall will be quite ready to affirm that personally he has no objection to the passing of the turkey even as a holiday piece de resistance prices of turkeys this year are higher than ever before last year in the largest cities first class birds brought from 35 to 50 cents per pound and a five dollar bill was hardly adequate to secure a bird that would sufficiently servo serve an ordinary sized family this year prices will be higher still in spite of the fact that dealers havo have been scouring tho the country for months making contracts in advance and putting into cold storage every bird that could bo be secured long be foro the holiday season opened the fact is that tower fewer turkeys are arc being raised every year the decline in the industry having started six or seven years ago when tho the terrible disease of blackhead began to destroy tile tho hocks flocks in tile tho new england states the ravages of this disease have become so great that in rhode island which was once the great turkey state nono none are now being raised the disease has spread to other states throughout the east cast and its ravaging effects have been so disastrous that thousands of farmers in new york massachusetts new jersey and new hampshire all formerly good turkey states havo have practically given up the business this disease has ha invaded the west to some extent but its ravages have been checked cheel ced because the means of preventing it are arc now much better understood der stood than ever before owing to the industrious and intelligent investigations started several years ago by tile the rhode island experiment station and supplemented by the work of the halted cited states department of agriculture blackhead Is a disease of the liver and intestines which produces a form of dyste and Is caused by minute parasites and called blackhead because tile the heads of the affected birds turn black at a certain stage of 0 tho the disease in many cases birds die from complications induced by the presence of tho disease rather than from its immediate effects blackhead destroys about four fifths of the young turkeys before they are six weeks old and of the remaining one fifth one tenth to one fifth die at a later period tho the advice given by experts in the disease is to quit breeding turkeys wherever it appears and this is responsible in a very large degree tor for the rapid curtailment of the industry in the eastern states the hope of the turkey raising industry appears at present to lle lie in the west and those portions of the south which have so far escaped this dreaded disease breeders bleeders Bre eders have now learned how to prevent the disease and in the west where it has not prevailed availed to any considerable extent farmers have taken up turkey breed ing encouraged by tho the tremendously high prices that have prevailed during the past few years and by the hope that they will be able to escape the losses suffered by the eastern breeders bleeders bre eders w who ho did not know how to cope with the disease turkeys are great rangers but as they quickly become attached to their attendant it is not difficult to control thorn them they should be fed and car cared ed for by the same person from the time they are hatched until they aro are ready for the market in this way they twill will learn to como come at the call of the attendant and follow him for long distances from the fields to tile the coops if young turkeys are carefully handled by the same person they can be easily arlen from one place to another and ngien heu storms come on they can be quickly housed in foreign countries turkeys aro are driven to market in flocks and we once saw a flock of nearly birds being driven along the highway to the railroad station three miles from the farm fa in where here they ish were to be cooped and an d shipped i ap pp e d to the city market the best known varieties in amer america are the bronze narragansett ansett butt buff and black the boubon red is a una fine bird coming originally from the mountains of kentucky where it flouris flourished lied in a wild state tor for many years the black turkey of america came from england where it is known ns as the norfolk the bronze turkey which is probably the most popular turkey in this country was originated in england through the crossing of an american wild bird upon the black turkey the north american wild turkey was at one time very plentifully distributed tri buted over the entire country from the carolinas Caroll nas to canada and most moat plentiful to tile the sections subdivided sub divided as pennsylvania ohio and kentucky they were migratory following the food supply often wandering distances of from to miles in search of their favorite food follon following ing the ci chops aps ops into the localities where the season afforded the greatest production these early wild turkeys visited the barnyards of the early settlers of the country where tame turkeys brought over from the old countries were kept and the result was a great improvement pro in all qualities of this bird breeders bleeders Bre eders were quick to observe this improvement and sought bild wild gobblers to cross upon their domestic birds it is from this cross that our highest standard turkeys have been bred they have been so carefully selected mated and cared for by the fanciers that there has hag been produced perhaps the most beautifully plumaged and noblest table bird in the world unfortunately like the wild pigeon the wild turkey has almost disappeared from this country A turkey does docs not mature until it is about three tareo years old and to obtain strong and vigorous offspring hens aiom two to years old should be mated to strong arong active males of the same age or older the males and females should never be taken from the same family and no breeder should go into the business unless he is willing to start with the standard bred stock the critical time in the lives ot of turkeys is in the first six weeks they are tender little things and must bo be kept dry and warm until the red begins to show on their heads they should never be turned out when nhen the dew is on the grass but may bo be con in a large yard where they can nave plenty of exercise when they are old enough to run out on oil tho the range alth ith the mother hen they must be brought brou glit in before every storm and always at night buyers in all parts of the country are numerous and are quite ready to take the live birds on foot fool at the farm and thereby saving the owner all trouble of and marketing of course if the birds are slaughtered on the farm and properly pro parly packed I 1 in clean white paper and new boxes they will bring a price enough higher to j pa for tho the labor ir in 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