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Breeding and Bearing of Turkeys. 



[Mar,, 



THE BREEDING AND REARING 

 OF TURKEYS. 



C. A. Flatt. 



The breeding of turkeys has long been recognised as an 

 industry of considerable importance in Europe, mainly in 

 France and the southern countries, from which prior to 1914, 

 large and increasing quantities were imported annually to the 

 English markets. Very few data are available as to the extent 

 of turkey breeding, and except that the average turkey popula- 

 tion per hundred acres of cultivated land was 2.3 in England and 

 Wales, and 7.2 for Ireland in the year 1908, no reliable figures 

 can be quoted. 



Origin of the Turkey. — The origin of the domestic turkey 

 was for some time a subject of controversy, but it is now 

 accepted generally that our domestic varieties are descendents 

 of the North American wild breeds, Meleagris Americana, and 

 M. Mexicana. The former is a large bird with dark and bronze 

 markings, while the latter is of smaller build, shorter in the leg 

 and with white tipped plumage. It is more than probable 

 that turkeys were first introduced into Europe through Spain, 

 and it is claimed that domestication dates back 500 years. In 

 any case there is evidence of demand for these birds for the 

 table over three centuries ago, and if the earliest specimens 

 first reached Spain they would speedily become distributed 

 throughout Europe at this period. 



Breeds. — The most common and popular variety in Great 

 Britain is that known as the American Bronze, and there is no 

 doubt that this breed and the Cambridge Bronze possess 

 the blood of the M. Americana, or wild turkey of the more 

 northern climes of America, while the origin of the White or 

 Buff varieties, which are less popular in Great Britain, is 

 probably more directly traceable to the M. Mexicana. These 

 breeds, together with the Black Norfolk turkey which is now 

 seldom seen, are the only distinct varieties known in this 

 country. Both the American and the Cambridge Bronze 

 are of large size, and they probably owe this and their 

 superior claim to vigour to the more recent introduction 

 of wild blood. The Black Norfolk, at one time most 

 justly popular for its quality of flesh and propensity to 



