FIFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VI. 429 



as those produced in Rhode Island, their value would be nearly doubled and 

 they would return correspondingly greater profits to the growers. It is 

 quite as easy to grow turkeys of superior quality as it is to grow those of in- 

 ferior quality. Rhode Island turkeys sold at retail in the markets of New 

 York City and Boston during Thanksgiving and holiday weeks of the past 

 winter for as high as thirty-eight and forty cents a pound, while other turkeys 

 could be bought at twenty to twenty-five cents. This gives some idea of the 

 willingness of the people to pay a good price for the best. 



PROFITS OF TURKEY GROWING. 



Cosi of Production and chance for profits. — li is claimed that, in the West 

 and the Southwest under ordinarily good conditions, turkeys can be grown 

 and sold at eight to eight and one-half cents a pound, live weight, and re- 

 turn a profit to the growers. When the possibility of an advance of three or 

 four cents per pound is considered it will readily be seen that there is a 

 chance for good profits. In addition to this there is an opportunity for 

 smaller growers who live near towns and villages to dress and sell their tur- 

 keys to private customers at the local retail prices. All admit that, if it 

 were not for the unnatural losses that have been sustained in the past few 

 years, much more profit could be made from growing turkeys. These losses 

 are largely chargeable to conditions that may be removed by following the 

 laws of nature in selecting and pairing the breeding stock. 



Turkeys compared with other live 5/?o^>^.— There is no other kind of live 

 stock that will return so large a profit to the successful producer as will 

 poultry, and no kind of poultry is more profitable than turkeys when prop- 

 erly handled. The fact that turkeys will, from the time they are six weeks 

 old until winter sets in, gain the greater part of their entire living from bugs, 

 grasshoppers, and waste grain that they pick up in their wanderings over 

 the range, assures their existence through this period at little or no cost to 

 the grower. In other words, they may be termed self-sustaining foragers 

 where they have sufficient range. 



Increased demand for turkeys . — The chance for profit in the production 

 of turkeys is gradually improving as a result of a more general use of the 

 flesh. They are now used not only for roasting, but to an increasing extent 

 as cold cuts for sandwiches and for salads, and large numbers of poults are 

 used for broilers. Late-hatched poults do well for this purpose, and, while 

 there can not be much opportunity for growing poults to maturity when 

 they are hatched late in the season, they may be sold for broilers at a good 

 profit. No dish is more valued in our large cities at the present time than 

 the broiled poult. 



Preferred weights for market.— Turkeys that are hatched early in the 

 spring should grow to weight from fourteen to twenty pounds by Thanks- 

 giving week. These weights are often exceeded by the best growers, but as 

 they are the most popular and most readily produced, they are suggested as 

 the most advisable. The average yield of turkey hens is from eighteen to 

 thirty eggs, each of which can usually be counted on to produce a living 

 poult. The question of profit from keeping turkeys simply resolves itself 

 into the ability of the grower to bring them to a marketable size. This can 

 readily be done if care and attention be given to all the requirements for 

 success . 



