MARKETING 



and Texas where the bulk of the turkeys are grown, there 

 are poultry packing houses which are prepared to handle 

 and which do handle large quantities of turkeys at the 

 proper season, busying themselves with chickens and eggs 

 during the remainder of the year. These are concentrat- 

 ing points for the live turkeys and here they are either 

 dressed, which is the usual procedure, or else shipped to 

 market alive in car lots. In sections like Texas, where 

 turkeys are plentiful, it is quite a prevalent custom for 

 hucksters to go out through the country buying turkeys 

 from the farmers, adding them to their flock and driving 

 the flock along the roads until they reach the killing sta- 

 tion or concentration point. In this way flocks of tur- 

 keys are often gathered together running to more than 

 1,000 in number. 



In the season of 1912 there were gathered in this way 

 8,000 turkeys which were concentrated at Myersville, 

 Tex., and driven from this point to Cuero, Tex., a dis- 

 tance of 13 miles. This drive from Myersville to Cuero 

 was accomplished in two days with the aid of 30 men. 

 Smaller flocks can of course be driven more rapidly. A 

 flock of 700 turkeys was driven over this same distance 

 in 8^2 hours, five men being employed in the drive. It 

 is usual to make use of a team and wagon in connection 

 with these drives, the wagon going on in front and the 

 driver throwing out a little corn from time to time in 

 order to get the birds to follow. Such a wagon is also 

 useful for picking up and hauling the rest of the way 

 any birds which become lame or tired or which cannot 



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