Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 February 1913 — TURKEY INDUSTRY SHIFTS TO THE WEST [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

TURKEY INDUSTRY SHIFTS TO THE WEST

(BY C. M. SHULTZ.)

Many a city family man, when he comes to pay from $5 to |7 for his Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey, will be quite ready to affirm that personally he has no objection to the passing of the turkey forever, even as a holiday piece de resistance. Last year in the largest cities firstclass birds brought from 25 to 50 cents per pound, and a $6 bill was hardly adequate to secure a bird that would sufficiently serve an ordinarysized family. The fact is that fewer turkeyß are being raised every year, the decline in the industry having started six or seven years ago, when the terrible disease of blackhead began to destroy the flocks in the Nfew England states. The ravages of this disease have become so great that in Rhode Island, which was once the great turkey state, very few are now being raised. The disease has spread to other states throughout the east, and its ravaging effects have been so disastrous that thousands of fanners in Massachusetts, New Jersey and New Hampshire, all'formerly good turkey states, have practically given up the business. This disease has invaded the west to some extent, but its ravages have been checked because the means of preventing it are now much better understood than ever before, owing to the industrious and intelligent investigations started several years ago by the Rhode Island experiment station .and supplemented by the work of the U. S. department of agriculture. Blackhead is a’ disease of the liver and intestines which produces a form of dysentery and is caused by minute parasites, and csfted blacklto&d because. the heads of the affected birds turn black at a certain stage of the disease, • In many cases birds die from complications induced by the presence of the 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, according to Prof. Cooper Curtiss of the Rhode,. Island station, one-tenth to one-fifth die at a later date. While there has not been great progress made in the control of this disease the limits of Ignorance have been clearly defined, and it is believed that the scientists will, in a very short time, discover effective remedies. 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 the rapid curtailment of the industry in the eastern states. The hope of the turkey-raising industry appears at present to lie la the west, and those portions of the south which have so far escaped this dreaded disease. Breeders have now learned, at least in a preliminary way, how to prevent the disease, and in the west, where it has not prevailed to any considerable extent, farmers have., taken up turkey breeding, encouraged' by the tremendously high prices that have prevailed during the past few years and by the hope that they willi be able to escape the losses suffered by the eastern breeders who did not know how to cope with the disease. As farmers receive about 65 per cent, of the retail price of turkeys, there is-good profit in the business, provided the birds escape disease. Turkey-raising is no more difficult than the raising of any other kind ofl poultry. It requires just as much, but no more trouble than should be> devoted to the raising of guineafowls, well-bred chickens, or squabs. In fact, where extensive range can be secured, the rearing of turkeys Is les» trouble than that of chickens. Turkeys are great rangers, but aa they quickly become attached to their attendant, it is not difficult to control' them. They should be fed and cared for by the same person from the time they are hatched until they are ready for the market In this way they will learn to come at the call of the attendant and follow him tor long distances, from the fields to the coops. If young turkeys are carefully handled by the same person they can be easily driven firom One place tar another, and when storms come on they can be quickly housed. In foreign countries turkeys are driven to market in flqcks, and we once saw a flock of nearly 300 birds being driven along the highway to the railroad station three miles from the farm, where they were to be cooped and shipped to the city market Texas is, perhaps, today the greatest tnrkey state in the Union. Breeders of this state have taken first premiums at many of the national shows during the past few yean, and the Industry has thrived wonderfully in the mild climate of the state. Turkeys in the southern state#, where range is ample and the winters are mild, grow to an exceptionally large size, twenty-five to thirty-five .pounds being a common weight for the prize bird*.

Buff Turkeys.

White Holland Turkeys.