The Dickinson press., 1883-09-01
FARM.
What Ex-COmmissiOaer LIE Duo Saw
There.

What Ex-COmmtssiORer LIE Duo Saw
There.
From q latter to the New York Tribune.
I have thought that an account offs
visit to the ostrich farm near Anaheim,
CAL, might interest your readers and
give some information that would be
useful. My attention was called to the
profit aa well as the practicability of os-
trich breeding in this country some
years ago by young gentleman fresh
from college, who has since taken or
ders in the Episcopalian church, and
who prepared for me a statement of the
case as it then stood, showing conclu-
enough to warrant the experiment
an industry of importance might
easily be built up in various parts of the
United Estates. Having therefore rec
commended the business and tried
without avail to have the general gov
eminent do somethin, to promote os-
trichIraising, it!may be understood that l
felt interest enough in the ostrich to go
out of my way to visit him in his new
home near Anaheim, Cal.
Leaving Los Angeles on the 10 q. IN.
train, I arrived at Anaheim at IL 80,
having passed through a fiat, well.culti-
waited country, largely planted to citrus
fruits and vines.
As 1 drive toward the new implanted
building in view a half-mile away I see
signboards with notice that all dogs
found on these premises will be shot.
And this emphatic notice is strictly en-
forced, much to the surprise Of confd.
ing sightseeing people who have not
yet learned that the notice death
to any and all dogs which may come
within range Of the shotgun or pistol Of
the guardians of the precious feathered
bipeds. Only a short time before a dog
was shot at the side of his bucolic mas
ter, who could not comprehend the
necessity of guarding the breeding birds
from the sight of any animal of the dog
kind. As I approach the house [ see
that it is one of the San Francisco
"ready-mades." built of redwood. Or
dered by telegraph from San Francisco,
it was shipped by rail and set up ready
for occupancy within four days from the
giving of the order. 1t is unique and
tasteful rectangular structure story
high; shingle roof with gables; a porch
along the entire front; ornamental brac-
kets and %cornice; a passage way six feet
wi lie through the centre; two rooms on
each side, each twelve feet square; and
the whole building set up on the ground
cost $500! One room is used for
reception room, one for sleeping, one
for kitchen, and one for the incubator
and egg room. On the work done in this
room depends the success of the ostrich
farm.
A broad shelf on one side contains
about fifty ostrich eggs of the brown
Leghorn chicken. The incubator has
been used for Matching these eggs prior
to trusting the more valuable ostrich eggs
tr it's maternal love. These ostrich eggs
are a wonder to all who see them
for the first time. They are regularly
elliptical in form, weighing about three
and one half pounds, measuring in cir
conference lSxl6 inches, and with a
holding a capacity equal to a full quart
measure, The color is q creamy white
and the shell is equally pitted all over
and porous in appearance. Sixteen eggs
have been put in the incubator up to
the time Of this visit, June Goth, and the
remaining eggs, and what more may
come, will wait for the Halstead ostrich
incubator, which has made a favorable
reputation in Cape Colony in the speci-
atty of Matching ostrich eggs, and which
is daily expected.
These sixteen eggs were placed in the
incubator on May IA, Is and 16, and
their period of incubation has nearly
passed, for the chickens are moving in
their shells ready for advent into Cali
fornia life. One came as avant courier
yesterday, and to-day is beauty of its
kind. He is covered with speckled brown
downy feathers except on the head and
neck and legs; he is as wild, shy and &C.
tive as the young antelope fawn, and,
only a day old, is as large as full grown
Leghorn hen. Uneasy and restless, in
constant motion, and with inquiring
ayes, he no doubt waits impatiently the
companions who are to join him in his
feather-producing career.
Preparatory to any nourishing food,
he had placed before him when about
twenty-fours old a tray of small gravel
ones and crushed sea she'll 8, subse-
luent to this tonic he had a handful of
chopped alfalfa. This lays the founda-
ion for a meal of cracked corn and va
ter, and when this has been eaten the
bird is considered on the straight road
TO distinction as the first ostrich Matched
in America. The bird will no doubt
conduct himself or herself as the cast
may be (for the sex is not distinguishes
BILE for some months) in accord nee
with the rules and regulations prescribed
and enforced here for the successful
promotion of the honor and profit prop.
erly due the enterprising gentlemen
who have initiated tais new industry.
Leaving the front door looking east I
turned to the south, and before ne is an
Enclosure of four acres in L form, made
by a post and board fence only four and
a half feet high. But this fence is made
of three good sound inch thick, twelve
inches wide redwood boards, we'll
nailed n. A kick from an irritated
ostrich would break an ordinary fence
board in splinters. These parallelograms
making the L are divided into twelve
paddocks in which the stock oftwenty-
one cstriches, eleven hens and ten cocks
are placed. Each paddock contains q
pair of birde, one having two hens and
n cock. "The paddocks are bare and
sandy, but surrounding the breeding
grounds is an excellent growth of alia1-
ia, turnips, cabbagee, onions, maize and
beets, all of which have been planted
and grown since March 25, and are on
time for voracious chickens which are
expected to rally round their exemplary
parents in an all-summer campaign
against the ffty-ft ur acres of green food
provided for them.
In close proximity to the paddocks is
an artesian well 300 feet deep, which
discharges four feet above surface 49,
600 gallons of water each hour-suf-
fcient to irrtgate in this locality from
two to three hundred acres Of land
planted to ordinary crops and with aver
g rainfall. The entire farm is a mile
square, or $40 acres. and is a level plain.
1t may be as we'll to remind you tina:
these are the ostriches, the arrival Of
which In New York last November at
t,ootoJ a., no,ub o%top%ion oo1 ,ubiob