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THE HATS FREE PRESSNone Should Blame Thanks-diving Bird for Mental Incapacity for All of His Efforts Go Toward the *+• \ Development of Flavorflow Turkey Redeems litraselrasFoojiENOIt DON TURKEY played a brilliant part In history even before the Spaniards discovered him. along with Mexico. In 1518.Long before that he hnd been worshiped by Aztecs. Later, when his religions vogue was post, he was given honorable mention as a bird of honor ut the nwrrlnge banquet of a king. So superior a viand wns he consldereU when first introduced to Europe that in a “constitution” set forth by Crnnmer In 1541 turkey is named as one of the greater fowls, of which an ecclesiastic was to have but one lu a dishe.” But he speedily multiplied to such on extent that no later thun 1555 two turkeys and four turkey chicks were served ut a feast of the sergeants at arms In London.Turkeys of thut period were mentioned In connection with cranes and swiins as Important anti rich Items of a banquet. A little luter. In 1573. turkeys were used or. the rubles of English husbandmen for the Christmas feast. In the meantime they were more than plentiful In their home land, where turkeys continued to sell for about six cents apiece as late as the nineteenth century.* For six cents In those good old days a turkey weighing about twelve pounds could be bought by a good Shopper. If the family needed a turkey weighing twpnty-five or thirty pounds It was necessnry to puy as mtidi as n qunrter. But It must be remembered thut six cents In those duys counted a good deal more than It does In this.The turkey that the Aztecs worshiped was probably either the Mexican ■wild turkey, which Is known by the white touches on Its tall covers and quills, or. more appropriately, the ocollated turkey of Honduras and other parts of South America, whose brilliant plumage, spotted almost as gloriously with vivid colors as a peacock, somehow allies It particularly with that vivid early people. The turkey which strolled ont of the forests of New England and furnishpil so marvellous a banquet for our Puritan forefathers was a handsomer bird than that of Mexico, in the opinion of some lovers of beauty, but not so brilliant a one as the Honduras turkey.The American wild turkey, which really belongs to Thanksgiving, was the North American wild turkey found throughout the enstern United States and Canada. Scientifically It Is known as the Meleagrla Americana. Its plumage Is hlnck. shaded with bronze. In the rays of the son the bird gleams In n beautiful harmony of hlnck. copper, gold and bronze. And the turkey likes the rays of the sun. He hntes damp weather, not alone because It Is bad for his health, but because It obscures his beauty.It Is generally believed at present that all the turkeys of the world have descended from the three forms known as the North American bird, which has Just been described : the Mexican bird and the ocellated bird.The turkey which was first Introduced Into Europe may have been carried there by the Spaniards from Mexico or the Jesuits may have takeu It back across the waters from one of their scattered stations In the great woods of Canndn. In any event, one of It* representatives figured at the marriage banquet of Charles IX and was regarded as of sufficient Importance to be mentioned In the reports of that festivity.The Mexican turkey Is the wild bird of Mexico, which also came over the line Into the southern part of the United States. Meleagrla Gnllopava is the name that Is generally employed to describe this turkey. It Is somewhat shorter In the ehank than the northern species. Its body color Is n metallic black, shaded with bronze. This la thought to be the species that the early navigators first bore back to Spain and England. The white tips of Its plumage also have suggested that It Is to this bird rather than to the wild turkey of North America that most of the domestic fowls owe their origin.The ocellated turkey. Meleagrls Ocellata. which Is smaller than the others, has a bare head and neck. Its body plumage Is bronze and green, banded with gold bronze and varied with spots or eyes of brilliant colora—bine, red and brilliant black.Why the turkey Is called the turkey when its origin Is admittedly purely occidental Is a subject that has puzzled many persons. There are several reasons given by those who have delved deeply Into this problem, and one Is privileged tc take his choice. In the first place. It is stated that the turkey was originally supposed to hnve come from Asia. Thus at a time when a great stretch of territory on the Asiatic continent was called “Turkey” the bird derived its name from Its supposed origin. Another speculative chronicler records that the Indians called the bird “flrkee” and that from this Its common name wns created. Then, again. It Is somewhat generally believed that the bird named Itself by Its peculiar utterances, which are translated as “tnrk-turk-turkce. Agntn. still more subtle philosophers have traced the naming of the bird to Its kinship in the matter of polygamous habits with the Turks over the water. Certainly no turbnned subject of the sultan, even In the days when hnrema were considered an article of the true religion, was ever more tenacious of his prlvllegea In this regard than the turkey cock of barnyard or iorcst. Turkeys were also at one time supposed to have come from Africa and they were confused with guineas. The errors in their scientific naming are )ue to this confusion.When. In 1021. after making their flrst harvest, the pilgrims decreed that there should be a three (lays- festival, which was really the first Thanksgiving. wild turkeys already had become known as a delicious food, and they furnished the mainstay of the feast- The old pioneers weren't so badly off. Is seeins. In some ways os we have been led to Imagine, for although they were deprived of the Joys of tinned meats and vegetables and cold storage and similar blessings, turkeys were so plentiful thnt It Is recorded It was customary' 4o refer to them as bread. Another chronicler seta forth the fact that the breast of the wild turkey when cooked In butter was esteemed by oven the epicures among the explorers. But in spite of their abundance turkeys were regarded with favor even by the red men. If one Is to Judge by the following prayer which they uttered:O Great Being, I thank thee that I have obtained the use of my legs again so thnt I am able to wulk about and kill turkeys.”It was not ulone In early New England that the bird was regarded with such favor as an edible. Isaac De Rasleries In 1827 writes a description ofthe trukey and details the method or hooting them in the New Netherlands: “There are also very large turkeys running wild. They have very long legs and run so extraordinarily fast that generally we take savages when we go to hunt them, for when one has deprived them of the power of flying they yet run so fast that we cannot catch them unless their legs are hurt also.” Turkeys have been called the greatest game bird of this country, and the methods of taking them have h«n many. John Hunter, who was captured by the Indians ond spent some time In captivity. In his memoirs, written In 1824, tells how the Indians made a decoy bird from the skin of a turkey, followed the turkey tracks until they came upon a flock and then partially’ displaying their decoy and Imitating the gobbling noise made by the cock, drew off flrst one and then another of the .flock, who being socially Inclined, came along to Investigate the newcomers.Among the Indians the children were expected to kill turkeyB with their blow guns. These were hollow reeds. In which arrows were placed and blown ont with such force that, being directed at the eye of the creature, they often brought him down. Children as young as eight years were successful at this sort of shooting. Adrian Van der Donck says that turkeys were sometimes caught by dogs In the snow during theseventeenth century, but generally they were shot at night fromtrees. They slept In the trees In large flocks and often selected the same apot many nights In succession. At other times the Indians would lay roots of which the turkeys were fond In small streams and take the birds as they were lu the set of getting these roots.In Virginia the trap or pen wns much used. This trap was built In the forest and leading to It was a long train of corn. The trap was a simple affair bull! of logs laid one upon nnpther and having rough rails laid across the top. There was a trench dug under the lowest logs which fenced In thepen. In this trench corn wns scattered and the turkey following the trail ofthis delicacy for some distance off would finally come to the trench, which seemed to be quite providentially strewn with an unusually rich supply. He followed the grant bright path of rich food to his destruction- The turkey's lack of Intelligence, when it comes to penning him up. Is one of the reasons why a great many Americans have not been In accord with Benjamin Franklin's idea that the turkey and not the eagle should be the bird of our country.A writer, describing the shooting of turkeys in the latter hnlf of the nineteenth century In Michigan, speaks of the use of the hollow boDe of the turkey's wing, which In the mouth of an expert can be made to reproduce perfectly the piping sound of the turkey hen. Sometimes also turkeys were hunted on horsehark. In Virginia, according to an old writer, this was not uncommon. He says:“Though we gnlloped our horses we could not overtake them [the turkeys], although they run nearly two hundred snd twenty yards before they took flight. The constant practice of our forefathers In shooting gnme developed a great many line turkey shots, and It Is recorded thnt In the latter half of the seventeenth century “a man wns thought a bad shot If be misled the very head of n wild turkey on top of the highest tree with n single ball.To “pot hunting and to the practice of luring the turkeys by Imitating the call of the hen in the spring. Sylvester D. Judd of the biological survey of the United States department of agriculture largely attributes the termination of the wild turkey in many parts of the United States where formerly it wns especially abundant. Trapping the turkeys In pens also helped along the extermination.Although the turkey Is. generally speaking, not a particularly hardy bird, being subject to various forms of Indigestion, etc.. he Is varied In his diet and usually has a good appetite. Some of the things which the wild turkey likes best and which the domesticated bird will by no means scorn are grasshoppers. crickets, locusts, tadpoles, small lizards, garden seeds nnd snails. One turkey which was examined by a scientist wns found to have partaken of a meal Including the following viands:One harvest spider, one centipede, one thousnnd-Iegs. one ichnenman fly. two yellowjackets. one grasshopper, three katydids, wild cherries, grapes, berries of dogwood ond the sorghum, two chestnuts, twenty-five whole acorns, a few nlder calkins and five hundred seeds of tick trefoil. The domestic turkey's habit of hunting grasshoppers and worming tobacco shows that his delight In the primitive pleasures of the table has not altered In his more carefully provided for existence.The chicks both of the wild and the domestic turkey are delicate and especially must they be protected during the damp weather. Audubon rays that the mother bird among the wild turkeys thoroughly understands the delicacy of her offspring and that when It Is wet she feeds the chicks hud* from the spice bush with medicinal intent exactly as the mother of a brood of youngsters prescribes doses of quinine when Influenza has taken the family In Its clutches. As soon as the young birds can fly well enough to take their place on the roost with their mother* the most delicate period of childhood, what might be called the teething stage. Is thought to be over.But. according to a successful turkey farmer, the poults are three months old before they can he taught anything. They are then taught that they should roost high so as to Weep out of the way of night prowlers. Turkeys retain so much of their wild nature that they do not like roosting inside a house, and. indeed, they do not care even for artificial perches. When possible they greatly prefer tall trees as a roosting place to any roost that ha* been especially constructed for them. This characteristic renders them especially easy victims for night raider*. In addition to the human desperadoes of this description there are the coyotes and hawks always to be guarded against in some parts of the country.In addition to Illnesses which come from digestive disorders, colds, the terrlhle scourge of blackheads, etc.. nnd the depredations of the night raider, the turkey farmer always has to consider also the feuds among the member* of his flock, which frequently rage high. Nevertheless, the careful turkey rancher has found It possible to conserve his lilrils and make a large profit from them. A womnn turkey rancher, who has had good experience In the business, lost in one season only twelve birds out of s flock of 1.500.At first the young turkeys are fed on bread and milk, hard-boiled yolk of egg nnd perhaps some chopped Hlfalfn. Later they are fed cracked grain, but as soon as they are able to tnke to the range It Is no longer necessary to feed them. The range supplies all that they need, both green nnd dry. and happy Is the householder who is able to purchase for his table turkeys whose habitat has been an oak forest. Nothing is more delicious thun a turkey which has fed freely on acorns.Although there are many great turkey ranches and whole communities which live principally upon the raising of turkeys for market, such bs Cuera. Tex., whose annual turkey trade preceding Thanks giving Include* thousands of turkeys bound for the New York markets, as n rule turkeys are raised In small groups on farms which are Interested In other commodities. They are often the sole dependence of the farmer's wife for pocket money throughout the year, and many a farmer's daughter also has been able to make a shining appearance In her world of fashion principally through the successful marketing of the turkey brood.On the 5.000.000 farms of the United State* there were, according to careful statistics taken some years ago. only 6.500,000 turkeys. Texas led among the states, producing 650,000. The other states which were large producers were Missouri. Illinois, Iowa. Ohio and Indiana. The state of Hhode Island, noted as it la for Its turkeys, produced only 5.000. But the quality of the Ilhode Island turkeys always has been excellent and they usually bring prices vastly In excess of those from other parts of the country.And that ought to be enough about turkeys to get np a pretty good appetite for Thursday’s dinner!Attire.“Why do women Insist on wearing—Stop. John. Interrupted the woman who la kind but firm. “I won’t hear any criticism of my sex's apparel until you explain why so many men wear collars and suspenders In hot weather.The Fruit of It.“She's a regular peach.“But she got a lemon in the matrimonial market.What a polrl”The Difference.“Where's the pretty young actress we met last year7“She’s starring.”“And what became of the young fellow who was ao much in love with her?'“He's mooning.”Looks Like It.“Was that a marriage of convenience?“It seems to be. He couldn’t afford an automobile, and she couldn't pay a chauffeur.Losing Matter.“I won't let my wife go to bridge parties.”Because you think It la wrong for women to gamble?”No; because she Is such a bad player.”Ad Infinitum.“Do yon believe in long engagements?” asked the domestic man of his cynical friend.“Yea. Indeed, was the reply of the confirmed believer in single blessedness, “the longer the better.Photographically Speaking.The Prude—Just look at that girl with the low-necked waist and her skirt up to her knees. Isn't she a picture now? Isn’t slje?The Other—Yep, sort of a doable exposure.Impossible.“Funny. Isn't it?”“Hurry up nnd get It ont of yon? system.A fellow can't get the cream of the jokes by aklmmlng over a funny paper.”
Newspaper Details
The Hays Free Press
Hays, Kansas, US
Thu, Nov 21, 1918
Page 7
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CA 06 Feb 2025
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