There are six standard varieties of turkey bred in the United States: the Bronze—the largest and most like the wild turkey of yore; the Narragansett; the White Holland; the Bourbon Red; the Black; and the Slate. The plumage of the tom turkey in some varieties is very beautiful.
From a 2 x 2 ½ -inch egg, baby turkeys kick themselves loose from the shell in the spring. Six to eight months later they are plump and ready for the market. By careful breeding, some growers now hatch out their crop about the first of the year and send prime turkeys to market in midsummer. The raiser of turkeys must face definite hazards before the money for the bird in the egg finally reaches his hand.
Turkeys are temperamental, complaining, and quarrelsome. Not only are they susceptible to pneumonia, but they smother if the weather is too hot. The noise of an airplane motor, or loud thunder, panics a flock; when they run as fast as they can, they make greater speed than a horse. Flocks may range widely during the day but always return to the poultry yard for the evening meal. Old tom turkeys, deprived of their consorts, travel in flocks by themselves. Turkeys are more curious than cats, and seem to be lonesome when no one is around.
The Municipal Archives recently presented Feeding the City, an exhibit that featured vintage recipes and photographs, advertising brochures, and excerpts from the manuscripts of the NYC Unit of the Works Progress Administration Federal Writers’ Project unpublished book Feeding the City. Revisiting the collection in search of information the Project staff collected or wrote about Thanksgiving Day meals, revealed a draft manuscript, Turkeys, dated December 18, 1940, written by Parker Tyler and edited by Diana Hunter. It is reprinted in its entirety below.