Evening star., 1899-04-01
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ITS astonishing how little most people
know about the way Uncle Sans business
is conducted" remarked a well-known Off
cial one evening this week.
'.Of course / don't refer to people living
in Washington. where every one is fairly
Well informed to the duties and functions
of the various departments and bureaus.
but the lack of understanding exhibited By
business men generally throughout the
country in matters pertaining to govern
ment business is truly marvellous, when
contrasted with the general impression pre-
vailiug that every school boy knows just
exactly how 1t all is done.
Now as an illustration. at certain
periods of the year there is a bulletin, or
report. issued in pamphlet form by the
office with which / am connected. 1t is
printed. of course. at the government print
ing office. and is mailed free of cost to any
who may ask for copy. Well, would
you believe it? ! saw a letter today from
one of the largest publishing houses in this
country, whose name IS almost as familiar
To the public as President McKinieys, ask
ing if it could not make some arrange
ments with the department for printing and
selling this pamphlet, and what terms the
department would be willing to allow it
in the way of a commission for printing.
selling and distributing it, That is on a par
with the man of apparent intelligence who
thought he must address his letter to the
Bureau of Information, Washington, ID.
c. and subscribe himself A Voter in
order to receive reply. l could mention
many more such instances. but these will
do TO Illustrate my point
* x
1.-The zebra is one of the most popular an
ima1s exhibition in any public menagerie
in this country" remarked one of the prin-
cipal keepers in the geological gardens in
Central Park. New York, to the writer re-
Gently. Its shape and beautiful color at
tract the approval of all classes of people
The symmetry of its limbs the sickness of
its coat are engaging. But very few of the
many admirers of the animal probably know
that it is timid in the extreme. At night
especially. if it hears any strange noise. if
any keeper attempts to approach it stealth
lily, all the old desert instinct to escape
from the prowling beast of prey is on the
alert again. 1t dashes up from its bed, and
if the suspicious sounds continue, it will
fling .tself about in its crib with such yio-
Ience as 10 often injure itself. No doubt the
old days when the cracking of d twig or
The rustic of dlyiding grass betrayed the ap-
proach OF The creeping lion, are not Yet for
gotten anu the -wInd-footed beast is up on
the instant, and IN its mad efforts to ny il
will batter itself asainst It's stall Yet ze-
bras broken 10 haIEess' have been advertis-
eu for sale IN England All the same, L
would not guarantee them quiet and fit
10 drive in d light wagon. on several South
African farms experiments have in recent
years been tried with Burchells 5 zebra. With
skiAful training he zeDras become as tame
ponies and may readily be broken in for
draught work. But the chief object of the
tanners far has been to cross them and
breed mule which, like the zebra, is proof
against the tsetse-fiy- The zebras them
selves will run well enough in mule team
but they disposed to ne baIky when driv-
en- alone and cannot stand overdrivinS-
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The Egyptians may be slow and behind
the age in soms things, but in the science
of raising chickens by artificial means
think they could give many other more
progressive nations points," remarked an
Observant American who has just returned
from a visit to Egypt to the writer yes
t-rday. For instance. near the Pyramids
there are some eighteen twenty rudely
constructed incubating establishments,
nCne of which, from the outside, looks
if they We're ever intended to make money.
But entering one of these Matching con-
Germs. especially if it happens to be early
in March, one soon realizes that the simple
but extensive arrangements within are
capable OF turning out between 6Uo,006 and
IVOO0o little chickens every year
THE iHcubatOries are one-story buildings
made of sun-dried bricks, so arranged that
the eggs laid upon cut straw in racks
in rooms around the ovens. which ara kept
well fired during the Matching season. The
outside walls are very thick and are built
so that they retain the heat, and the only
Thermometer used is the blood of the boy
or man whO attends To the fires. BY long
practice these men learn just how hot the
ovens ought 10 be kept and they replenish
the Hres the weather demands. Only Il
small amount of fuel is needed, and the
temperature of the ovens is about that of
9S degrees above zero The fires are built
up for Eight ten days before the eggs
are put in 10 thoroughly warm the build
inSS, and after this they are not allowed
10 go out during the Matching season, which
iS from March until May. The eggs are
turned four times a day while Matching.
The whole outfit of establishment
which matches over four hundred thousand
chickens year does not, l was told, cost
more than 500. and one man runs the
whole machine, keeping the fires, buying
and turniLg the eggs, and selling the chick
erS. Their are in this inCubatOry twelve
compartments. each 40 feet long. 60 feat
wide and 10 feet high, and eaca of these
Compartments will hold $500 eggs at a
time, or 5000 eggs in all. 1t produced last
var more than 10000 chickens, and did
the work Of mora than 2U,aFU hens.
The supply of eggs for these incu-
batteries is furnished by farmers living
within a radius of eighty miles, and they
either receive ten cents a dozen for their
eggs. or i've young chicks in exchange for
every dozen eggs that prove productive
In this way more than twenty million
chickens are raised and sold in Egypt an
1t ally The vaiue of this product is esti-
mated to be worth 100000 which is
about twenty cents for every chicken
raised"
THE smallest letter during the war" ex-
planned clerk in the dead letter office To
Star reporter, was written on the back
of d postage stamp. Il was a very hand
some piece of work as far as the work was
concerned, and was written by a soldier in
an Ohio regiment The person addressed