ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF POULTRY CULTURE 59 



due to the prevalence of the disease known as blackhead. That 

 this view is erroneous is evident from the fact that, though the 

 industry has declined in districts that once produced many turkeys, 

 a number of persons continue to grow them as successfully as ever. 



The greater part of the annual turkey crop now comes from 

 the Central West and the mountain regions of the South, where, 

 though they are grown in smaller flocks, the total production is 

 large. Vermont and parts of New York and Pennsylvania produce 

 large quantities of turkeys. In the situations most favorable to it 

 the turkey lives largely by foraging in the fields and woods beyond 

 the range usually covered by fowls. Turkeys may be grown in 

 confinement, but not profitably. The conditions most favorable to 

 their production include good range, little restriction on their move- 

 ments, and still enough attention to provide for all their wants and 

 insure protection from their enemies. ^ 



Other kinds of poultry. Peafowls, guineas, pheasants, swans, 

 and ostriches are not of general economic importance, though 

 there are a few breeders of pheasants and ostriches growing them 

 on quite a large scale. 



Fancy poultry. Breeding fancy poultry is principally the pro- 

 duction of fowls for exhibition. The interest in other kinds of poul- 

 try for this purpose is far less general and less intense. As a 

 rule, competition in turkeys, ducks, and geese is not keen. In the 

 rarer varieties there is almost no competition, most of the displays 

 being for exhibition only. They are rarely seen except at shows 

 of considerable importance, and even the managers of these often 

 find it difficult to get as many of them as they wish, to add to the 

 variety of the exhibit. 



' I have made several visits to the turkey-growing district about Westerly, Rhode 

 Island, and have interviewed many turkey growers there and in other parts of the 

 East in regard to the causes of the decline in turkey growing in this section. The 

 views of two middle-aged women who had been successful turkey growers from girl- 

 hood seem to me to sum up the matter. One of these, when asked what difference 

 there was between her methods and those of her unsuccessful neighbors, who 

 averred that she knew the secret of raising turkeys, said, " The only difference 

 I can see is that I am more careful to look after my turkeys in bad weather, when 

 they need attention." The other, when asked to what she attributed the decline in 

 turkey growing, replied, " The men on the farms are now more interested in 

 other things, especially gardening, while the girls as they grow up usually leave 

 the farm and go to work in city stores or in factories or hotels ; so that the class 

 of labor that was abundant years ago is now almost gone." 



