The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1881-06-16

peOOIcS, S0nO ana DTS OF Cn0 Sn0ltS
from which the birds have recently
been Matched. Later. they take mouth
fuls of grass, then begin to snat IA up
insects and lizards, and, meanwhile. are
becoming expert in the art of suddenly
disappearing at warning cry from the
watchful parent. "This they do by
diving under q bush where possible,
and lying on the ground with their
bodies as flat as possible, and their
necks stretched out upon the earth.
Here they lie motionless as lump of
clay--and not unlike it in appearance,
even to the practiced eve until the
danger is over" Such native wisdom
is early supplemented in their infant
brains, however. by the farmers les
sons.
Sometimes stout young ostrich
serves as saddle-horse for rider as adj
venturous as q bushboy. 1t is strong
and fleet enough for the purpose, but
too stupid to be guided satisfactorily,
or to be trusted not to run away and
perhaps spill the rider. In the To-
illogical Gardens of London, and in the
Bots de Boulogue, Paris, children are
sometimes allowed to ride upon
ostriches. in the care of an attendant.
They are said by the people of the
Cape of Good Hope to be very gentle
and funny as pets, though full of mis-
chief.
But I am forgetting the promise of
my title to describe ostrich-farming.
The ostrich-farm is a South African
idea, and has become great industry
at the Cape Colony. 1t is said to have
been founded by accident. Formerly
the supplying of plumes was almost
wholly in the hands of the Arab traders,
who travelled throughout the interior of
Africa. and English merchants at the
Cape had little hold upon it. though
prices were high and great profits posi-
BILE. The Arab dealers would bring to
the coast from the interior, also. many
ostriches' eggs to sell in the villages as
food. or to send to Europe as ornaments,
often with odd, elaborate carvings upon
the shells. The story goes that one
day, about twenty-five wears ago, an
Algerian trader, having q heavier cargo
Than he could carry, left few eggs in
a cupboard adjoining bakery in the
village. Two months afterward, he
was astonished to find there chick for
every egg he had left. OF course, the
Young ostriches were dead, but it was
evident that they had been artificially
Matched by the warmth from the neigh
boring fire. A French army officer,
hearing this fact, set himself to learn
whether he could regularly hatch out
the eggs in an artificial oven or "incu-
bator," and afterward raise the young
birds until they should grow of a size to
bear salable feathers: and at last he
succeeded.
1t was hardly to be expected that the
slow-going people of Algiers should
turn the discovery to pront at once,
but a wide-awake Englishman heard of
it and Immediately tried the experiment
in South Africa, for there were plenty
of ostrich eggs to be had there, and he
knew that success would bring him
plenty of money. The experiment led
to many improvements upon the first
one, until now ostrich-farming is
well-settled business; and of the several
millions of dollars worth of plumes ex-
ported from Africa every year, the
Cape Colony sends over quarters.
wholly of artificial production, and
procured from about half a million of
tame birds.
The ostrich-farmer begins by having
an immense grassy range inclosed by
fences, which need be neither high nor
stout. Then he buys few birds from
another farmer, for which he pays from
one hundred to five hundred dollars
apiece. builds his Matching machine, or
incubator, and is ready.
Incubators are of various patterns.
but all are intended to serve the same
purpose, namely, to initiate just as
closely as possible the natural warmth
of the bird when sitting. To accom-
plish this, a large chest or bureau is
built, in which watts of hot water are
arranged across the whole breadth.
Between these vats are sets of sliding
boxes, or drawers. In these are laid
the eggs, wrapped in flannel. and then.
by system of screws, the drawers are
placed close up under the hot-water
watts. 1t sounds easy, but six weeks
are required to hatch out the chicks,
and we are told that ''during all this
period, three times each day, the farm
er must turn the eggs, 50 as to present
first one side and then another to the
life bringing warmth. He must follow
Nature as CLOSELY as possible. for the
degrees of heat and moisture, aud the
like, must be just right, or otherwise
mischief is done. He must, moreover,
with delicate care. when the proper
moment comes, assist the young chick
to free itself from the shell, and then
he must tenderly nurse the bird during
its early, helpless days"
The young ostriches, after three or
four days. eat all sorts of green food,
and are regularly fed and cared for BY q
servant thirty or forty youngsters
keeping one man busy. They are tame
and gent 9 enough, and when they get
fairly grown are so hardy that no more
anxiety is felt about their health, and
they are turned out upon the great
ranch 10 shift for themselves. excepting
in times of unusual drought, when they
must be fed. They eat nearly every-
thing edible, and comical stories are
told of their appetite and powers of di.
gestion. i
l read the other day that an ostrich
at the Garden of Plants, Paris, having
accidentally strangled itself, the stomach
was opened and was found to contain
fifteen pebbles. seven nails, q scarf pin,
an envelope, franc piece and thirteen
sous in copper money, two KEYS. a
piece Of z observation-disclosures with the
letter '.R" embroidered on it, a medal
of Leo Kill, and q cross of the Legion
of Honor. The poor birds at the Cape
do not get such luxurious tare, but must
contine themselves to pebbles, of which,
says recent writer, as many as ni,ss
hundred have been found in single
birds gixzard! These hard substances
are swallowed to assist the crushing Of
the food and 80 make the process of
digestion easier. Our domestic fowls
follow the same plan ON q small scale.
On the wide range of . Cape farm
the birds can build nests and lay eggs
as though in . wild state, and in the
spring It is part Of the framework to
find these eggs and take them to DO
artificially hatched. This is not only