The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1883-11-24
The California Ostrich Farm

NAN 0fD@ = -
helm, part of the way over tie Old bed
ofthe Santa Ana river, through fields
thickiy strewn with millions OF yellow
mock ang The land selected Ter
the farm consists sf64O acres of alkali
soil. 1t has on tia fine flowing well,
which is 800 feet deep and comes bub-
bling up through quartz rock and yields
many thousands Of gallons Of water per
day, enough to keep a pretty good sized
brook flowing. The well hes been sunk
several years and the land could be
bought for $40 per acre, but the alkali
in the soil evidently discouraged par
chasers. Doctor Sketchley speaks of
this with some amusement. Now he has
used the flowing we'll to wash the alkali
out of the land. There is much alkali
soil in Africa, and Doctor Sketchley, be-
ing familiar with it, considered it no OBJ
stacle in his way. He plonghod over a
tract very deep, and then, contrary
to the custom among Ameri-
can owners of alkali land, at
once turned the water on. 1t called the
alkali to the surface, which was what
he wanted. and then dissolved it. The
water stood about a foot deep for q
while, and when it was drawn0 off 1t took
the alkali with 1t. Then tn. land was
again deeply submerged and the water
was again drawn of. '"That washed the
soil,'' said Doctor Sketchley, ''and !
think that it will last for about five years.
OF course by continuing the process all
the alkali can in time be washed out"
The ostrich farm planting began only on
April 10Th last. Already on this alkali
and three crops Of alfalfa have been cut
and lamda fourth crop is about ready for
cutting" That makes it pay better than
yines,n said Doctor Sketchley with a
smile. In addition to the alfalfa other
croDs are growing. Cabbages of the most
ROBUST type seem to reyel inthe purified
soil; poplar trees which were struck out
only as twigs. are growing thrifty. Ey-
erything promises sell for vegetation
onthis land, which so shorta time ago was
a waste. Doctor Sketcbley has prepared
to flood and wash q much larger area
than is now cultivated. Prudently at
the outset, he has prepared q food sup.
ply for his feathered pets. Pets? No,'they
are not thht, for they are every one
vicious after they are three years old.
though when they are chicks they fol-
low YOU about and are so affectionate
that they are q nuisance, They will
peck at your ears and nose and try to
steal your handkerchief.
"Now some people have formed a.
judgement" said Doctor Sketchley, as he
opened one of the incubators revealed q
vast array of bouncing ostrich eggs
therein, that because We have not yet
succeeded in Matching out any ostrichs
here, our experiment is a failure. l
don't think anything of the sort. Some
chickens have lived thirty days in the
eggs out of the forty-two necessary to
hatch them. But the eggs were not
perfect. The twonty-ona birds we have
here, brought by a roundabout way,
were transported $4,000 miles before
they reached their farm. They came
part of the distance by car, None were
lost on the way, and none nave dled ex-
cent the one killed by its mate. When
they reached Anaheim, they were blind
folded, having a stocking pulled over
their heads. Then they were pushed into
a truck provided with board sidings rum
ming up seven or eight feet. When they
are blinded they are ~tractable. They
will not kick unless they know what
they are kicking at.
This lani transportation was one
drawback. Next, when thew reached
New York, although it wa winter there,
it was the middle of their summer.
Then they are brought OUT here and
they find another summer and keep
right on LAYING. 1t is easy to see that
they may be over-taxed. That the eggs
are not fruitful at once does not warrant
any one in saying that the experiment
is q failure. / shall not admit it until a
year at least. At present the birds are
going through acclimatization, and are
not thoroughly well, ] think. Taking all
things together / see no reason yet, why
the experiment should not succeed
here. The summer weather is warm
enough; the winter is not so cold as in
Africa where they thrive. / think that
the climate here is better than in Africa.
We have had a temperature of 105 de-
grees in the shade here for the best part
of three weeks, and once it reached l42
degrees in the sun. Then I took from
the incubator the drawers con-
tanning the eggs and laid them on the
ground in the shade in this
house, and was warm enough for incu-
baton. For all that, the idea that os-
triches leaye the sun to hatch their eggs
is all bosh. So is the idea that the ostrich
es when chased will stick their heads
in the sand thinking that this hides
tuSn. a WISH tIleV udu tuhb tIdit, lOF ~
would have saved me much trouble
when / was out hunting them in the des-
ert of Africa; but they do no such things
as they have so often been described as
doing. And speaking again of the success
OF our experiment-iftbe eggs should not
hatch, the value of the feathers will
cover the expense Of tending the. birds
for the year. Should we succeed, and ]
think we shall, there viii be no stock
raising in California SO profitable, /
don't care what it is; it will be as good
as gold and silver mining."-San Fran
cisco Bulletin.
New York journalism.