The Oregon daily journal., November 21, 1915, Page 51, Image 51

THS OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, PORTLAND. SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 2f, 191ft
Some Olnr'pQ
At the Sunny
Side of Life
A Critique
COLONEL GEORGE HARVEY said it a
banquet In his honor in New York:
"We editors like criticism, especially
whep It Is of the very favorable kind that
I've received this evening.
"But not all criticism is favorable, even
for the most successful editors. A good
many editors, in fact, often find themselves
In the position of the rich old broker whose
little grandniece said:
" 'Uncle, how long do people live?'
" The natural span of man's life,' the
uncle answered, 'is,, as the Good Book tells
us, three-score years and ten.'
"'Oh, then you'll live to be 140 won't
you, uncle?'
"The old man looked around the room
crowded with relatives and laughed heartily.
" 'Why, no,' he said. 'Why, no. How
do you make that out?'
" 'Isn't it true then.' said the little girl
isn't it true what mamma says about your
living a double life?' "
. Difference in Shooting
Henry Miller in the following story
proves how wit can effectually sue a man
from humiliation.
"During the Civil war, at a camp !n Ohio,
i captain fresh from civil life and grand in
a brand new uniform, happened to observe
two men shooting at a target.
" 'Here, boys,' said he, "let me show you
how to shoot.'
"Taking a gun in hand, he. fired a?d
missed.
" 'That,' said he to one of the soldiers,
Is the way you shoot.'
"He fired a second time and hit the
bullseye.
" 'And that,' said he, 'is the way I
shoot.' "
Watchful Waiting.
"You know the fellow Jim McGroiarty,
the lad that's always comin' up and thumpln'
ye on the chest and yellin' "How are ye?' "
"I know him."
"I'll bet he's smashed 20 cigars for me
some of them clear Havanny but I'll get
even with hinynow."
"How?"
"I'll tell ye. Jim always hits me over
the vest rocket where I carry my cigars.
He'll hit me just once more. There's no
cigars in me vest pocket this mornin,' in
stead of it there's a stick of dynamite, d'ye
mind!"
Circumstantial Evidence
"Speaking of circumstantial evidence,"
said a lawyer at the University club,
"George Frisbie Hoar used to tell this stcfry:
"A young woman met her husband as he
returned from the office, andshowed un
mistakable signs of recent "weeping.
"'What's the matter, Ellen?' asked the
husband.
" 'Oh, John,' she said, 'I dropped my
diamond rine off my finsrer, and I can't find
it anywhere.'
"'Don't worry, Ellen; it's all safe. I
found it this morning in my trousers'
pocket.' "
Preserving the Proportion
"It will take J3o5o to finance our new
drug store," said the pharmacist to the
financier.
"That's a lot of money," grumbled the
financier.
"I cnow," replied the pharmacist, "but
a really good soda fountain costs $3 000,
and I don't want to skimp too much on the
drugs."
Habit
"Isn't it too bad?" asks the lady with the
Russian boots. "Mrs. Gonso has sued her
husband for divorce and Is going to marry
that musician as soon as it is granted. And
she and Mr. Gonso were married last
Christmas day."
"I expected it," says the lady with the
new hair. "Lucy Gonso never got a pres
ent that she didn't try to exchange."
A Valuable Employe
"I never hear of Walker, the pedestrian,
any more. What's become of him?"
"He's working for a real estate concern,
establishing records between the houses
they sell and the station. When they tell a
man a house is 10 minutes' walk from the
station, they are in a position to prove it."
Lucky Family
"What a splendid lot of silver and cut
glass you have."
"tes, it's a great thing to have a golf
player and a bridge expert In the same
family-"
"THE MELANCHOLY DAYS
V1- .. ., ',- 1 ...
; . JT ' -
War and Politics What Else Should Cartoonists Ask For By. Way of Suggestions?
'. c ; , : ; . ,
Growing;
Douglas County
Turkeys Ready
for Market
By Alfred Powers.
OAKLAND, Or. Three hundred farmers
of Oakland and environs, with turkey
farms on 300 sunny hills overlooking
the Umpqua and Calapooia rivers, be
gan the preparations of Oregon's 19 1 5
Thanksgiving dinner even before Oiegon's
19 14 Thanksgiving dinner was eaten. These
300 farmers anticipated Governor Withy
combe's proclamation one whole year.
From the universal slaughter of last
"Turkey Day" they saved back the finest
turkeys, as the Noahs, Shems, Hams and
Japheths to repeople the grasshopper
ranges. Several hundred of These great
bronze birds were kept as the scions of the
multitudinous race which, upon this
Thanksgiving will lie supinely and all stuffing-filled
in a myriad of platters.
A Task Ahead for Father.
Yes, on the 25th of this November,
father in 12,000 homes will take a hitch at
his sleeves and carve the savory piece de
resistance that came from Douglas county.
Johnny likes the dark meat and Mary the
white, but dark or white, it is flavored with
the sunshine that lingers like a benediction
over the Oakland country, with big fat
grasshoppers, with acorns from a million
oaks, and finally with golden corn and
wheat.
Such, in order, is the Oakland turkey's
food, which is transformed by the last
Thursday in November to the most delecta
ble flesh to be found in this broad com
monwealth, turkey meat composed of the
right ingredients, raised to the -'nth" power
of sweetness, a joy to the palate, a comfort
to the stomach and a pleasure to the
memory.
For close to 30 years Oakland has been
fn the wholesale business of furnishing
Thanksgiving dinners. Each Thanksgiving
from 10,000 to 12,000 birds are shipped
out and from 2,000 to 5,000 more ejich
Christmas. In the aggregate almost half a
million turkeys, for the purpose of holiday
martyrdom, have ripened to luscious fulness
in the Oakland country. These during the
last three decades have brought in more
Here he ia, friend, the gay
than $1,000,000 to the community, or
about $40,000 a year. No other place in
the Pacific northwest holds such a record;
it ships out more holiday meat than any
other town west of the rockies and north
of California; it is the northwest habitat of
the turkey.
An important feature of turkey raising in
Douglas county is the fact that it is not
limited to a few large growers. The large
aggregate represents the combined product
of hundreds of growers. It is a universal
industry. It is almost impossible to find a
farmer without at least a few turkeys.
Maybe he has only a dozen, or 20, or 50,
but he is sure to have a herd. Its general
character is a big advantage to the industry.
Its proceeds are scattered out over the
ARE COME"
"RUlsdtlpbls. Ijder.
Oregon's - Thanksgiving Dinner
ft'.-' 'Nl"N5!l iyu w
WWHM&Wttliy -iSS& A
Thanksgiving bird, and below ia shown a group
whole community. Everybody has money
at turkey-selling time.
Oakland Turkey a By-Product.
Turkey raising is likewise an incidental
Industry. In every instance it Is carried on
in connection and simultaneously with
some other line of farming. It is never
carried on exclusively.-'The Oakland turkey
is distinctly a by-product. This is one of
the principal secrets of its success. The
Oakland growers are pretty well acquaint
ed with the turkey's consumption of food;
they know that if he were fed from infancy
to maturity he would eat them out of house
and home. To be profitable the turkey
must rustle most of its, own food. The
ranges are, therefore, not overstocked; he
is not congested in such numbers as to ex
"DARWIN WAS RIGHT"
mmsmmmsm
IT WARFARE ffenpr'
ifcU iM
of hia fellows fattening themselves for
haust the natural supply of food. Where
the range is practically unlimited herds as
large as 500 are found. This is the maxi
mum size of herds around Oakland, and
depending upon the restriction of range
herds decrease in size to as low as a dozen,.
Under the present plan, which cons'ders
the turkey a by-product, there is consid
erable profit in raising, him. He is fed a
little bit in his infancy and then turned out
to hustle for himself. This self-supporting
period lasts several months. In the fall he
is rounded up and fed several weeks on
corn or wheat. Corn Is considered a su
perior food, as it produces a golden-colored
flesh, while wheat produces more of
a white color. During the fattening period
each turkey eats about 50 cents worth of
AMONG THOSE
PkUsdelphia Ledger.
the feast, your feast perhaps.
food. Turkeys will average around 13
pounds apiece at about 22 cents a pound
in local markets. The gross returns per
turkey is therefore in the neighborhood of
$3, about five-sixths of which is seen to
be net.
Birds Shift for Themselves
The Oakland raisers do not spend any
thing for "fancy fixin's." such as poultry
bouses and incubators. The turkeys mostly
roost in trees or on the top boards of
fences. Rough coups are scattered out
over the pasture for housing little fellows.
The eggs are hatched under a turkey hen
or under a chicken hen, and later given to
a turkey hen, as the latter makes a better
mother. The poults are too fast company
for the chicken mother, who can't adjust
BADLY WOUNDED
Japanese Are
Proficient In
Pulling Teeth
FVom the Los AnElaa Times.
APANESE native dentistry, which Is th
I . science of extraction only, may not ba
J inaptly termed a handicraft rather than
a profession. In many parts of Japan the
dental chair Is unknown. The patient is
seated on the ground, tht dentist bends
over him, and forces his left hand between
the patient's jaws in such a way that the
mouth cm not possibly be closed. Then he
grasps the doomed tooth between the
thumb and forefinger of the right hand and
with one deft wrench removes it.. '
It is said that the skill of these native den
tists is such that many of them are able to
remove six or seven teeth in a minute.
However, their skill Is hardly to be won
iered at when the course of preparatory
training that they are obliged to undergo
is considered.
A number of holes are bored n stout
plank, which is firmly fitted to thtground,
and in the holes are driven wooden pegs.
These pegs the would-be dentist has to ex
tract with his fingers without dislodging the
board. This process is repeated with pegs
in a pine board, and then with pegs in one
of oak, and it is only when the candidate
has succeeded in extracting the pegs from
the oak plank that he may consider himself
qualified to practice on his fellow-men.
Farm Mechanics Taught
A school for farm mechanics has recently
been started in Argentina at Rafaela, Prov
ince of Santa Fe. The school has been rec
ognized by the p'rovincial government, and
will issue diplomas. Entrance requirements
are as follows: Students must be at least
16 years old, In good health, of good con
duct, speak, write, and read Spanish, and
understand arithmetic, mental computations,
fractions, decimals, and elementary geom
etry. A two years' course is being offered.
herself to the peripatetic tendencies of her
children. In one way a turkey hen Is un
satisfactory. She is foolish enough to lead
her infant family abroad in the wet-grass,
and when a little turkey gets his feet wet
he's a goner. For this reason much at
tention must be paid to the poults and the
indiscreet wanderings of the mother must
be restricted. The mortality among Oak
land birds is about 15 per cent.
The field where turkeys thrive is pe
culiarly local. Turkeys are raised more or
less all over Douglas county, but more than
half of the county's turkeys are grown in
the region tributary to Oakland. Virginia
or the Carolinas are not a more favorable
home. Three things make Oakland a
country of turkey thrift range, mast,
grasshoppers.
The Calapooia valley is a peneplain, and
its thousand hills are more suitable for
pasture than for agriculture. Thus Is range
provided. Turkeys are nomads, wanderers,
gadabouts. They will chase a grasshopper
till they catch him, shoo up another grass
hopper and so on ad infinitum till they are
a good long way from home, not unusually
as far as five miles.
A Henriksen, large grower on the Pacific
Highway, seven miles north of Oakland,
had 150 that wandered away unfound
among the hills back of his house.
These hills are covered with oaks.
Hence, the name Oakland. This means
acorns, mast, the second essential for
turkey thrift.
These oaks are not so thick and shady,
like firs, as to kill the growth of herbage
underneath. Grass and weeds grow abund
antly, furnishing a home for millions of
grasshoppers and insects, the third essen
tia! for turkey thrift. It Is thus Inevitable
that Oakland should be a great turkey
country.
Now Comes Turkey Day.
The turkeys are killed and picked on the
Friday before Thanksgiving. This Is called
"Turkey Day." It is a recurrent St. Bar
tholomew's day for turkeys. On the larger
ranches many pickers are required. Five
cents each is given for picking. Tom Gray,
a local picker, once picked 120 in a single
day. This is the record.
From 10,0t0 to 12,000 turiys come
into Oakland on turkey day. These fill
two big warehouses, which are literally
ceilinged with suspended birds, still regal
in death, the occasional head of some big
gobbler descending far below the rest.
These are later packed into crates and the
crates put into three big express cars and
shipped away to fill 12,000 platters on 12,
000 tables in 12,000 homes.
The largest growers of turkeys are Isi
dore Rice of Rice Hill, who has 350 bead
A. Henriksen of Rice Hill,-400 head; J. A.
Davidson of Green Valley, 400 head; J. L.
Thornton of Green Valley, 200 head; Wal
ter Fisher of Keilogg, 200 head; I. B. Guinn
of English Settlement, 200 head; Jeff Med
ley of English Settlement, 150 head; Jack
Chenoweth of Fair Oaks, 150 head; Oscar
Gorel of Lower Calapooia, 125 head.
There are hundreds of other farmers with
herds ranging in size from 20 to 100 head.
VINE AND OAK
Xmos I tax.
vz&m. mm
f--S23fe5T lASA. .