The Iola register., 1881-02-11

OSTRICH farming has been so remark
,blv successful among the British set
tlers in the Cape Colony OF South Africa
as to have become the leading source OF
supply for ostrich feathers in the Lon
don markets. 1t is, therefore, not sur
prising that the capitalists of California,
in their eager pursuit of opportunities
for diversifying the farming interestsa3
that State, should have introduced
ch-farming, just as they had presF
ously adopted the culture of oranges,
lemons. olives, tea, coffee, grasses, anu
the production of raisins. This peculiar
feature of stock-raising belongs to 3
class of advanced developments in the
great department of agriculture when
promises to expand the 1nvestment ot
capital in farming to correspond WIN
the marvellous progress OF raliroaus'
manufactures, and mining. Inc ordi.
nary stock-farming in America mas oi
late years increased enormously IN con.
sequence of the rabid multiplication OF
butter and cheese factories, and OF the
imn,ense demand for American meat
products in Europe. Parallel with that
Developments there have come into exist
ence various kinds of what may be called
fish-farming, which not only includes
the artificial propagation OF salmon,
olack bass, and other food fishes in our
rivers and running streams, but has oeeh
developed into 1obster-farming ON
large scale on the coast of Maine, ana
carp farming in all the ponds, lakes, and
inclosed sheets of water of the New Eng
land and Middle States. Thus in New
JERSEY. where artificial lakes are numer-
GUS, carp-farming has suddenly become
new source of profit to the farmer,
which in former years no .lerseyman
ever dreamed of. Whether the humble
bullfrog is destined to be similarly prof.
liable to the farmers of this section OF
the country depends upon the favor
that NAV be extended to frog-eat-
ing bv the people of New York and
Philadelphia. Indeed, viewed in this
light, stock-farming may be extended
to ANYTHING required for domestic con-
sumption. It has already been extended
on an immense scale to the trade IN
eggs, butter and cheese, and If the &C.
counts respecting the productivenesS OF
the food carp may be relied upon, tnat
particular class of fish farming promises
TO eclipse all others. As regards the
adaptiveness of our country to ostrich
farming, there is no room for douot tnat
the business would prove successful IN
many of the southern parts OF the state
of California, and that it might be IN
troduced with equal success in Arizona,
New Mexico and Texas. A number OF
wears ago some attempts were made by
prairie farmers in Kansas and Nebraska
to domesticate the bison, or buffalo. and
to raise herds of that species by farming
ION the range" as it is called, but the
Agricultural Department has not lately
published any accounts on the subject.
/ Should the ostrich-farming in California
be successful, that State will undoubted-
" surprise the American market with
cheaper and better article OF ostrich
feathers than the imported article. VI
course, the local trade in California will
be too small to support the business to
any extent. Therefore the demand for
feathers would have to come from the
Atlantic division of the Union. This
item of trade is by no means a small or
unimportant one, and should tne
California experiment prove successful
it NAV lead to the domestic productlon
of camel's hair by stock-farming In
Texas, where the climate is adapted to
those animals. In our own section OF
the country decidedly the greatest nov
eItv is carp-farming, which promises to
attain q remarkable development, es-
peciallv in the Middle States, where the
first experiments have resulted most au-
spiciously and have excited general at
tention.-Philadelphia North american.