. The American fancier's poultry book. Poultry. POULTRY BOOK. 149. NAME turkey as applied to our favorite fowl, is explain- able only upon the theory of its Asiatic origin. By the French the fowl is called dindon or dinde, a contraction of oiseau a Inde (bird of India.) The Greeks and Romans had what they called me/eagrides or Gallinoe Africaneo, which were supposed to be the original race of turkeys, but they were in reality Guinea fowls. The first writer who mentions the American turkey is believed to be Oviedo, in 1525, who describes them under the name of peacocks, commenting upon the vast
. The American fancier's poultry book. Poultry. POULTRY BOOK. 149. NAME turkey as applied to our favorite fowl, is explain- able only upon the theory of its Asiatic origin. By the French the fowl is called dindon or dinde, a contraction of oiseau a Inde (bird of India.) The Greeks and Romans had what they called me/eagrides or Gallinoe Africaneo, which were supposed to be the original race of turkeys, but they were in reality Guinea fowls. The first writer who mentions the American turkey is believed to be Oviedo, in 1525, who describes them under the name of peacocks, commenting upon the vast number found in the wild state in this country at that early day and their excellence as an article of food. He found them raised by Europeans in New Spain, whence they were introduced into New Castile and the West Indies. Their history and discovery, like the history of most breeds of domestic fowls, are involved in obscurity, but it is certain that their origin is American. Its popular and scientific names are both unwarranted, and arose from a'misapprehension of what the bird really was, some supposing it to be allied to the Guinea fowl, and others to the peacock. The turkey is the most valuable domestic fowl and the successful raising of them is very profitable to the breeder. Aside from being the largest of all poultry, its flesh is of the finest and more esteemed than any other. In pioper locations it gathers more than half, of its living from the woods. By raising an early brood a great saving is made, as the young will catch the first crop of "grasshoppers, and in this way prove of double value. To successfully raise turkeys you must have vigorous birds. This is more essential with the turkey than with any other fowl, as they are very susceptible to surroundings and in- fluences, and inbreeding is strenously to be avoided. Bad food and neglect will dwarf their growth and weaken their constitutions, giving bad results and poor return to the breeder. To maintain siz
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectpoultry, bookyear1896
