The evening times., 1899-07-20


are ostrich ranches near Los Angeles and
San Diego, CAL, and Jacksonville, Fla.
These farms have prosperous appearance,
and the proprietors declare that they are
satisfied with the investment. 1t is prophe-
sled by experts that the industry will as
sumo vast proportions within the next few
years
When the determination of the wild birds
was threatened by plume hunters, far See
ing men in South Africa set about domes-
ticating the ostrich. Ostrich farming is
now one of the most profitable industries
of that country.
DR.. T. C. Duncan, in a report on ostrich
farming in Africa, presented to Norman ].
Colman, Commissioner OF Agriculture, in
1883, writes:
As we know that the expectation from South
Africa OF feathers alone Is annually millions oil
dollars, and that single bird will produce each
year 10 per cent Of its value in feathers, to say
nothing OF the increase, is ii any wonder that
pair of breeding birds command the fancy price
of 81 200, even high as 1000, and that
ostrich farming is most lucrative business?
The introduction of ostriches into Ameri-
ca was slow. AS early as 1880 an attempt
was made to interest the government in
the establishment of experimental farms.
but without avail In 1881 the American
consuls to Algiers, Cape Town. Buenos
Ayres and other points collected mass
of facts concerning ostrich farming for
presentation to the Secretary of State. AL
though these reports set forth the advan-
tages of ostrich farming in strong light
they were not acted on.
DR.. Charles ]. Sketchly was the pioneer
in ha cd
was before the Boer wars one Of the larg-
est ostrich farmers in South Africa and as
America consumed one-half of the feathers
exported, it occurred to him that if the
birds could be exported and acclimatized
in America the duty on feathers would be
avoided and the profits increased by at
least 20 per cent. In 1882 he started from
Cape Town with 200 picked birds, and af-
ter long and tedious voyage via Buenos
Ayres arrived at New York in December.
These tropical birds were shipped across
the American continent in mid winter and
only twenty reached California in a
healthy condition. The California Ostrich
Company with a capital of 100000, was
then formed with DR.. Sketchly as superin-
tendent. The farm upon which the birds
were released was of 600 acres. Between
April and October. 1888, the twelve ostrich
hens in the troops of twenty-five birds
was Matched July 2S, 1888.
About the time OF the formation of the
California Ostrich Company the American
Ostrich Company was set on foot in Maine,
with Mr.. E. J. Johnson as manager. He
went to Africa and spent a year in study
ing the habits and needs of ostriches. He
started from Cape Town with twenty three
birds, and after voyage of fifty three
days landed at New Orleans in December,
He in
transit. He established farm in the val
ley OF the San Luis Rey, about seven miles
from the town Of Fall Brooke, Cal. Here
| the clear. dry air, the good water, and the
| shelter afforded by the Santa Rosa hills
furnished the proper conditions for the os-
tricb. The breeding birds were kept paired
| in corrals of an acre in extent. Those of
one and two years old were left a range of
! thirty acres on the mesa while the young
chicks were kept where they might have
| plenty of shelter. The long journey af-
| fected the vitality and fertility of the birds
Mr.. Johnson wrote in 1887 as follows:
The reproductive powers of the birds were
| greatly impaired by the arduous trip. The increase
| has been exceedingly slow. Our birds have beer
| paired off three years more, and although
| have few very fine two-year-olds, large pro
| portion of the eggs have thus far been unfertile
| or, when fertile, not strong. Four of the Afri
| can birds have died of consumption of the lung.
| /
| just beginning TO see daylight in the venture.
| The ostrich lays an egg every third day
| They are large, being five to six inches
| through the long diameter. and weigh from
three TO five pounds each. The shell is
| usually very thick, sometimes one sixteenth
| of an inch. The period of incubation is
variously given at from thirty eight tc
| forty-two days, and depends upon the vi
tality and development of the chick. The
| chick can be heard in its shell several DAYS
before it appears.
They are from three to six days old be-
fore they eat anything and the first food
administered is sand and ground bone
Later they are given beet and cabbage
| leaves. Young ostriches are very liable tc
cold, and being natives of warm and dry
climate. cannot bear wind or rain. The
ostrich is kept housed at night until he i!
six weeks old.
The Jacksonville farm has been estab.
lshed about four years. Already there ar,
about one hundred productive birds on tn,
place. They have some very curious hab
its. Mutual selection is practiced by tht
| opposite sexes. When birds have chosen Il
mate they are penned off in lots of abou
half acre. Each hen is expected to lay
forty or fifty eggs year and the male biri
assists in the Matching, sitting on the egg
one half the time. Many of the male bird
are eight feet tall They can kick a mai
to death and outrun a feet horse. 1t is
practice on the farm to hitch one of tn
birds to a buggy, and he draws two mel
over the sandy roads of the farm with ease
There are two African birds on this farm
one of them being forty and the other fift
| years old. The average lifetime of an os
trich is seventy years. The American
birds at Jacksonville are as large and vel
feathered as the imported one. The plume
and other feathers are taken from ther
every nine months and it is said that tn
value of each plucking per bird varies fror
$50 to $50, according to the condition OF tn
feather market.
The ostrich industry began in Cape Col
ony in 1865 with eighty-five birds. In 1S7
the number had increased to 222i7 birds
and in 1885 there were about 100000 do
mesticated ostriches in South Africa.
1t is estimated that the South Africa
ostrich farmers have now about $100, 900, 90
invested in the business. In November
1884, becoming alarmed at the shipmen
of birds to America, an export duty of $50
was imposed on each ostrich. This dut.
with the original cost of the average bir
and transportation charges, makes the cos
of an imported bird in America abou
$1,000.
The finest feathers are the wing feather
of the male bird which are long and white
They command from $50 to $40 pound
The wing feathers of the female ostric
are lower in price because they are in
yariably grey. 1t requires about eight
feathers from the wing to weigh pount
The other feathers vary in value accord
ing to their length and fneness, down
the short black ones. which are worth onl
about SIS pound. When the supply Cain
mainly from wild birds i'll Egypt the be:
quality of plumes brought often as much q