The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1884-05-31
GOATS, cAMELs AND BEES.
Experiences OF an American Farmer
Who Has Ranch In Russia.
lNAxx York Sun /

Experiences OF an American Farmer
Who Has Ranch In Russia.
New York SUM-
A camel can carry tom"
Robert Eldridge, of Cincinnati, who
has just returned from Russia, where
he has been rearing goats and camels,
says he has seen good pack camels carry
more than ton on their backs, but q
ton is considered fair burden.
Are there many camels reared in
Russia?"
@The industry is not important in a
commercial point OF view. I have been
engaged at it for four years. [ have
figured that there are %, 900 camels in
the Kuldscha and Erivan districts; the
Kalmucks have about 10000, and the
Khirgese not far from 180, 200. Camels
are bred for their labor principally, but
also for their hair and milk A camel
will shear from from eighteen totwenty-
two pounds of hair. This is worth in
the open market about So. so pood. "
"You also raised goats?"
"Yes, had about 800 on my ranch
when left. There are over 100000
goats in European Russia The in
dustry is the most important in the
mountainous portions of the Caucasus.
The Angora and Cashmere breeds are
bred in some of the governments for
their milk, meat, and hair. In 1880
the export of goat down amounted to
$38,000. while the coarser qualities of
hair about doubled it. The largest ex-
port was in 1876, when it reached $780,
600 for down and coarse hair combined" :"
"What do you know of bee culture in
Russia? p
"In Little Russia and Lithunia, the
great linden forests render bee-keeping
very profitable The finest honey
ever saw is produced in Kovno. The
largest quantities come from the gov
ernments of Yekaterinoslav and Pollova.
There are over 100000 hives in those
two districts. Kaluga produces annu-
ally about 1,760 pools of honey and
$500 poods of wax. A pood contains
about thir' f-six pounds. The annual
production in the Don Cossack country
amounts to $50,0 in round numbers
"In Volhynia and Bessarabia the
combined yield of honey reaches value
of nearly 100000 q year. The annual
yield OF the whole empire is not far
from $4,000,000, or about $4,000 TONS
To this must be added nearly 5000
tons of wax, worth $2,000,000. This is
about all consumed in Russia, the ex-
ports being very small"
Australian Nomenclature.
[Cor. Philadelphia Times.
This way the Australians have of
11ino fbir0o 1,x, in -, ,,or, %
is inconvenient. Their "bear" is no
bear, their whiting" (fish) is no whit
ing, their Cherry" is no cherry, their
"fyingfo fox" only big bat. It used to
be proverbially reported that Aus
tralia is place where the oysters grow
on trees, the fences are made of ma
hogany, and cherries grow with their
stones outside" There is no real ma
hogany in the country, so far as I can
learn, except it has been imported; the
so-called cherry is kind of cypress,
and the My truth about the oyster is
that about some harbor oysters cover
ing everything close to the water, in
cluding occasionally the roots and
fallen trunks of trees. miserable lit
tie bits of oysters, of which it would
take dozen to fill tablespoon.) More
wonderful is the little "hand-fish,"
which climbs up on the beach sand,
props itself on it's fn-hands, and looks
ut one pertly as sparrow.
The "Tasmanian devil" is good
deal of humbug, too. At Auckland
I heard him described as fierce, un-
tameable, dangerous; at Sydney (his
bones only are found in New South
Wafes) he was fierce, but not often
met with in Tasmania; at Melbourne
he sank to "an ugly little BEAST" in
Tasmania it is discovered that the poor
little nocturnal creature is rare and
timid. There is one creature of whose
alleged habits I had heard with some
skepticism-th ground parrot of New
Zealand. On inquiry I found the worst
reports about it confirmed. This par
rot builds its nest on the ground and,
since the introduction of sheep, has
been building it chiefly of wool. To
obtain this it perches on the sleeps
back. For some time the worst that
was feared from this parrot was such
thefts of the golden fleece, but for some
years now it has taken to tearing
through the sleeps back and
dragging out the liver, which it
devours. It has become a pest
in New Zealand since this rapid
evolution in English civilization. It is
large parrot, but do not think it
pretty; its breast is the color of iron
rust.