THE BREEDS 81 



in recent years, the last general census showing a loss of 

 44 per cent, as compared with the last census previous, 

 and it is a serious question whether the race is not travelling 

 toward extinction. This loss in numbers has been due in 

 large measure to the spread of a fatal disease popularly known 

 as "blackhead" (infectious enterohepatitis), for which there 

 seems to be no cure, though the liberal feeding of sour milk 

 apparently checks it somewhat. 



With the hope of building up the vitality of the domestic 

 races to a point where they may resist this and other diseases, 

 wild turkeys have quite frequently been crossed with them. 

 In sections where wild turkeys still prevail, the crossing has 

 been almost as frequently without design. This, combined 

 with the fact that turkeys have never taken as kindly to 

 domestication as chickens, has made them restless and im- 

 patient of confinement, given to ranging and stealing their 

 nests in out-of-the-way places. 



It has been found that the blackhead disease is apparently 

 harbored by chickens, though causing them little inconve- 

 nience. When it is communicated to the turkeys, however, 

 it proves surely, and usually rather quickly, fatal. Once 

 introduced on a farm, turkey-raising becomes practically 

 impossible, as long as chickens are also kept. 



This condition has led to the use of the western ranges for 

 rearing turkeys, and it appears now as though the bulk of 

 turkey-raising might eventually be found in the semiarid 

 regions where great stretches of country are available. 

 It is now frequently customary to put them out on range 

 in droves, with a drover to look after them. A round-up of 

 over eleven thousand turkeys in a turkey-raising district in 

 Texas is shown in Fig. 29. 



Farm Production. — ^The farm rearing of turkeys is extremely 

 profitable in those sections in which blackhead has not made 

 its appearance, and where foxes and coyotes are not prev- 

 alent. A fiock of turkeys requires but little investment 

 in the way of buildings, and practically no feed, except 

 during the fall when they are being fattened for market, 

 and for the breeding stock during the winter. 



The turkey is a valuable aid to the farmer in keeping 

 6 



