The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-02-11
Ostrich Farming.

UStuch-F Farming,
A very perfect system of ostrich
! farming has been established at the
Cape of Good Hope. Different practices
prevail at different establishments.
! The birds are allowed occasionally to sit;
| but the success which has attended the
use of artificial contrivances is so great,
! that fewer losses occur by this means
than under natural circumstances, and
the use of incubators is becoming very
/ general The chicks produced are so
healthy as to show that they do not
suffer from this mode of treatment.
The general arrangement of ostrich
farms is very similar in all cases. The
desiderdtG are plenty of space, suitable
soil-that is, sand and pasture with fa-
ciIities for growing the proper food
conveniences for shelter, and water. A
well-cOnducted "farm" would require
perhaps $4,000 capital to begin in a
small way. The industry at the Cape is
barely eight years old, and much has to
be learned by beginner; loss and dis
appointment are frequently experienced
at first, but the occupation is considered
very profitable one, and is certainly
healthy and agreeable; yet nowhere are
patience, sagacity, and perseverance
more necessary than in the conduct of
good ostrich-farm.
A healthy bird of week old is worth
e10; at three months it will be worth
els; and at six months, ESQ and more.
Feathers may be plucked from the os-
4 trich when a year old, and each years
crop will be worth about CT per bird.
At five years, the breeder begins to pair
his birds, and each pair will yield from
eighteen to twenty-four eggs in sea-
son. 1t is necessary to keep the adult
birds in separate paddocks, which are
generally surrounded by wire-fencing.
The ostrich is liable to sudden fits of
jealousy. In such a case, frequent quar-
rels would ensue if the birds were all to-
gether in one enclosure, with the result,
if not of black eyes, at least of damaged
feathers, and perhaps broken legs, and
even death to one of the combatants.
The blow from the leg of the ostrich has
been computed to be fully equal to the
force developed by the kick of a colt
seven months old. But whatever be the
exact force produced, it is very severe,
sufficiently so to break mans leg.
The ostrich, however, both male aud
female, is quite an exemplary parent,
Notwithstanding the popularrumor that,
like the crocodile, it leaves its eggs in
the sand, to be hatched simply by the
action of solar heat. Father and mother
take it in turn to sit on the eggs, and
when the ostrich takes his female COM
panions out for their evening promenade
in the desert, one of them always re-
mains by the nest. This fact is suffi-
cient to induce many breeders to leave
the eggs to be Matched in the natural
way, and merely to devote their ener-
gies to the rearing of the young birds
and the collection of the feathers.
!, These are operations which require
very great care. Regular supplies of
food-about two pounds day to each
adult-are necessary; shelter must be
provided for the night, and to shield the
birds from the violent storms which fire.
quently burst over the southern part of
, Africa; and there must be supplies of
, sand or pebbles, which the birds swal-
} low, as aids to digestion. Pepsine is un-
; known among those birds of the desert,
and they introduce a quantity of hard
, substances into their gizzard, to assist
them in grinding up their food, Just as
the dyspeptic featherless biped takes his
: morning bitters to help the secretion of
the gastric juices. 1t is very amusing
to watch the flock of young birds as the
attendant enters to scatter their break
fast. The moment he appears with his
AOesO VI SAOCh-AAC1bt bLC ,gOuDRelGTS Ol
the ostrich family trot up to the en-
trance, and caper and dance about in
the most grotesque manner, and devour
r their food with evident relish. They
: are generally tame, and to a certain ex-
! tent tractable; but as they grow old
: they sometimes eviDce a sourness of
: temper which is anything but encour-
! aging to the formation of q near ac-
quaintance with them.
) AS the feathers are picked they are
t sorted according to their quality and
f purity of color. The pure whites from
/ the wings are called "bloods," the next
quality, ''prime whites" 'firsts," "sec-
onds," and so on. The tail feathers are
r not so valuable, and the more irregular
: the markings of the colored varieties,
! the less valuable are they. "BIoods'j
/ will fetch from forty to fifty pounds
, sterling per pound-weight in the whole
D sale market; and from this price thew
! range as low as five shilIings per pound.
4 The quality of the feathers produced
by tame ostriches is fully equal to the
s best collected from "wild" birds, while
the general average is much higher.
g Notwithstanding the increasing yield,
] prices are rising instead of falling; in
deed, good ostrich feathers are now
1 thrice as dear as they were fifteen years
2 age. But it is more than probable that
as the production increases the price
! will eventually fall. Even with reduced
e prices, the profits would be sufficiently
e large to render ostrich-farming a very
profitable undertaking, and, as each
e year will increase the experience Of
\ breeders, the difficulties will be gradu-
, ally diminished and losses more easily
avoided. As it is, this strange industry
8 the domestication of the wild birds OF
r the desert, once regarded as types OF
5. liberty and intractability-is at the
e same time one of the most interesting
r and most profitable to the African trader.
Miss Lavipa Goodell read an address
, on ''The Temperance Reform, Neces-
3 sary Step in the Progress of Civiliza-
tion,n at the annual meetinp of the