HISTORY, EXTENT OF THE INDUSTRY 

 Extent of the Industry 



Turkeys are now raised to a greater or less extent over 

 practically the entire United States. The great bulk of 

 these fowl, however, is found on the general farms 

 throughout the Middle Western and Southern states. 

 Formerly large numbers of turkeys were raised in New 

 England and the northwestern part of the United States, 

 but the turkeys coming from this section are now very 

 greatly reduced in number. For the same reasons that 

 the turkey production in New England has declined mark- 

 edly so has there been a great reduction in the number of 

 turkeys raised in the United States as a whole. The 

 census of 1900 shows that there were in this country 

 6,594,695 turkeys while 10 years later, the number had 

 been reduced to 3,688,708. The census of 1920 reports 

 3,627,028 turkeys or practically the same number as 

 in 1910. But while the number has remained practically 

 stationary, the value due to increased prices, has nearly 

 doubled or from $6,605,818 in 1910 to $12,904,989 in 

 1920. 



As shown by the census of 1920 Texas is the leading 

 state in the production of turkeys. Other states fol- 

 lowed in this order : Missouri, Oklahoma, California, 

 Kentucky and Virginia. While the country as a whole 

 showed a slight decrease in the number of turkeys from 

 1910 to 1920, quite a number of individual states showed 

 increases, particularly the mountain states, which nearly 



