The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1894-08-09
TWO WAYS,
The Wastefutness of Mankind in Regar
to Natural Resources.


Mankind is almost invariably waste
full with natural resources, and is espe-
cially destructive of wild animals
which yield valuable commercial prod
ucts! The skin of the buffalo was so
extremely useful that in the space Of
hfty years the millions upon millions
OF buffaloes which roamed the plains
west of the Mississippi were exter-
minated. What we have done with our
buffaloes the inhabitants of French
Algeria and the wilder races to the
southwark of them, have done with
their ostrlches In taking them for
their plumes they have either eXter-
minated them, or else driven them
completely away to the southwark out
of their reach. Thus they have de-
prlved themselves, as the hunters of
the western prairies did, of a consider
able source of income.
This is what the Arabs and other
| tribes of western Asia had already
done. Ostriches were once abundant
in Asia, but now are found only in
small numbers in some almost mac
cessible spots in Arabia and Persia.
different policy has been pursued
by the thrifty Dutch and English far
mers of South Africa. They, too,
hunted the ostrich until he ceased to
be found in wild state within the
limits of Cape Colony, and then they
set at work to domesticate him. In this
thr.'r Succeeded as admirably as the keep
ers of the Yellowstone National park
have succeeded in domesticating the
buffalo.
Ostrich farming is now lucrative
business in South Africa. Eggs are
procured and artificially or naturally
Matched and are worth twenty-five dol
lars apiece. Young birds are worth
one hundred and fifty dollars apiece
more than good horse in many parts
of the United States-and fine ma
ture male ostrich is worth three hun
dred and fifty dollars. Yet not many
years ago birds of this sort We're pur-
sued and killed merely to get three or
four feathers out of their tails.
To some extent the negroes of Sene-
gal shame their French neighbors, who
have permitted the determination of
the ostrich farther to the northward
and eastward. They have domesticated
many of the birds without difficulty.
They are, however, curiOusly afraid of
them. All ostriches are exceedingly
fond of picking up bright articles of
every lind-jewels, trinkets, bracelets
and the like; and the Senegal ostriches
include among such articles the glis-
tening eyes of the Senegal babies. 1t
is necessary to keep the children rigidly
guarded from the gigantic birds: for
the Senegal natives have not yet
learned to construct pens or yards for
the ostricheS.
At the last advices. there were in
Cape Colony eighty thousand ostriches
kept for their plumes; snd the market
for feathers has not become seriously
overstocked. Ostriches have been
proftably kept in the southern coun-
tries of South America and in Cali
fornia, although as yet on no such
scale as in South Africa.
The time is evidently near when all
manner of wild creatures, which have
heretofore yielded valuable products
except those which live in the sea
must be kept in some sort of captivity
or domestication in order to keep up
the supply of their products. Not all
wild creatures will yield their products
once a year, as the ostrich and the an
CORA and Cashmere goat, the llama
the alpaca or guaEaco which have all
been domesticated, do. But it has been
found profitable to raise certain ami
mails for the value of the skin, which
they can WELD but once, and that upon
their death.
The skunk, which yields the really
valuable ''black martin" fur of com.
merce, is being maintained on several
skunk farms in the United States fol
the sake of his skin; and it is believed
by many that in certain parts of the
west buffalo raising. for the fur, beet
and other products from the carcass
could be made profita e,-I outh's
Companion.