The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-01-17
Raising 0stricllcs in i'lorida.

'
were getting on ntlii, country.
"Wcll SAID h.. II cannot tn ~:
about TIE ostrichcs IN California but
| saw the farm nca- jack .onyillc,
Fla. the other day and am fully salts.
fled that the birds can be successfully
raised in HAT State.
GLOW many have they down there?
"lrpwarl Of loo, should say, in
Guiding the young ones. All seemed
to be in excellent shapc, and | was told
that the climate agrcc with them right
along.
Iti- astonishing how little the g.n-
cral public knows about birds Will
the exception, perhaps, Of warn
bird- after they are dead, an' i.n.-
lish sparrows rs Il nuisance.
Therefore, fired Il String Of ..ucs-
,ions at the gentleman about the big
gcst and livcst bird, that haze eve.
been brought to THIS country.
What is the ostrich good for:"
Nothing but bis feathers.
Indeed his flesh and his cees ~,
good for food?
No, sir
"Why?'
Too tough horribly unralatablc.' >
"Don't the natives ride en- like
horses in Africa?'
"No.'
1T seems to me that got that i'm
preston somewhere.
All Il mistake.
"rhcy attack people sometimes,
doHl they?
Not often.
We'll, Rider IIaygari wrote Il booi.
called jess about IN African farm
and describe, an ostrich a nearly
killing woman | rcmoinicr that.
Maybe 50, but cs,richcs are not r.
rociou~ly inclined. =
What DO they eat
In Africa they eat chiefly hc.basc
but | don't think this soft food is Il,
good for them as what they give them
in Florida.
.Wha, do they feed them on
thcrc?'
Bits Of broken Glass, egg shells,
sand, etc
You don t tell mc?'
"Ycs-that is to help to form the
shell Of the cgg which they lay-and
these things arc better for the ostrich
than hcrbagc, l think"
"You don mean to tell nc that os-
trlchcs are more properly fed in Amer
ica than in Africa
"Oh, yes I do-and better taken
care Of, too
IF they can live on Florida sand
there ought to be money in them q
There is-and will be much more"
"Whcrcin lies the value of the os-
trich?'
"Only in his feathers. They are
rare and costly and very beautiful.
You have seen the ostrich boas, per-
haps?'
"Oh, reckon so.
"What time do they shear ostriohes
in Florida?"
"They don't shear cm-thcy clip
the feathers.
"All the same, except closer cut"
They clip the birds when the feath-
crs are full grown tho feathers grow
rapidly"
What fcathcrs?''
''Thc wing feathers. They clip IS
from each bird and then let en- grow
again
Good
Eyes, better than in South Africa
"Why?'
Because they clip off all the fcath-
ers that can be clipped there, and this
is not taking proper care of the birds.
This is another point in which Florida
is ahead Of Africa in raising ostrichcs
and taking care Of them
That is certainly revelation to me
and will be to hundreds Of people.
If ostrichcs have better time and
flourish to a greater extent in Florida
than South Africa. In other words,
if the State Of Florida is better place
to raise the big birds successfully,
than Africa, the world cannot know it
too soon.
For, if the gent is right, nowhere on
earth could an ostrich board cheaper.
There are more oyster shells,
broken bottles and sand in Florida
than there are ostrichcs in Africa.
There ought to be an ostrich farm in
every County Of that State. The price
of feathers would not only shoot to
lo tok