Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-10-15
An Ostrich Farm in Egypt.

Visited the only ostrich farm in
Egypt recently. 1t lies in the desert
within five miles of Cairo, between the
spot where Plato taught school and the
tree under which the Virgin Mary and
the infant Jesus rested some 1900 years
ago. I had understood that it was very
hard to gain admittancs to the farm, as
the stock was very timid and easily
frightened, and knew of many travel
ers who had been turned away from its
gates. Armed, however, with letter Of
introduction to Mr.. Vedder, the propri-
etor, took carriage, and after q pleas
ant drive through several of the Khe-
dives lath-and-plaster palaces I was set
down before the iron bars of the entrance
gate. My letter procured my instant
admission. TIE ostrich farmer, a sun
Drowned, well built, intelligent Swede,
dressed in sack coat, skull travelling
cap and.top boots now appeared, and
together we went over the farm. The
ostfiches are kept in fields of desert sand
about as large as town lot. These
fields are surrounded by mud walls
about seven feet high and are entered
by wooden gates. The field we entered
contained about dozen large females p
years old. They were of a gray color,
well fsathered, and they appeared quite
tame as they stuck their long, fiat, duck
like bills over the walls and attempted
to pick at our hats, blinking knowingly
at us with their pink eyes. With their
long legs, their naked featherless necks
and their two-clawed feet, one kick of
which would send mans head from his
shoulders, they formed queer sight,
and when raised my hand and said
"Shoo-o-o!' they spread their wings
and ran away at a two-minute pace,
seeming to almost swim over the ground.
"Each of these Birds" said Mr.. We'd
der, sis worth from 81, 900 to 81, 500.
Their feathers alone bring each season
over $3.50, and we estimate each bird as
representing an income of ESQ or $3.50
year. Between their feathers and their
eggs they ought to produce that"
"Then ostrich farming is, I suppose,
profitable business p here asked.
Eyes, it should be-" was the reply;
sit costs very little to keep the birds.
They live on beans and barley and sand.
About 81 a month will pay for our birds
food, and the sand, OF which it eats
from fourteen to sixteen pounds daily,
costs nothing. have 100 acres of land
here, most of which is, as you see, des-
ert, and i now have seventy-fve os-
triches of various ages, from two and one
half years to II days old. Beside this
1 have over 100 eggs Matching, and in
the spring I will have about 12O more
BIRDS"
"How many eggs will an ostrich lay
during a season ?"
"About twenty-five" responded the
farmer. CHOW is the laying season. In
the winter alone do they produce eggs
After they have laid that number they
want to sit. I have two sitting on their
eggs now. It takes forty-three days to
hatch them, and we do this both by the
natural and the artificial methods. That
house over there" pointing to little
building to the right, " is the incubator.
We merely place the eggs between fan
nei and keep the temperature at blood
heat. Do you see that box at the side,
with glass holes at the end?" he con-
tinued. "Well, that is our apparatus
for examining the eyes of the young
birds. II the eyes are white the birds
WALL RAOouOO AC1tAC1 ACUtAO1S uOI cSRSs
and we kill them. IF pink, like those
which you see to-day, they are good
birds, and we take good care of them. u
The next field we came to contained a
number of male birds, which, to my eye,
showed little difference from the female.
We then visited number of other in
closures, where we saw ostriches of all
ages, and at last came to some with
bodies not larger than a good. sized
rooster Brahma rooster, for instance.
Their legs, however, were longer than
the tallest Shanghai, and they cuddled
themselves down on the warm sand,
making peculiar noise as they did so.
These ostriches were only about twelve
days old, and they we're the dearest lit
tie things imaginable, though their
feathers were still as downy as youth
mustache.
The feathers of the ostrich, by the
way, are of value according to their
color the white ones, which come from
under the wing, being most valuable.
worth $50 pound in an undressed
state. The black and gray ones are
cheaper Cleveland Leader.