The Monticellonian., 1904-11-10
New California Enterprise That Is Giving Good Returns After Re
 peated Failure.

peated Failure.
 After 20-odd years of constant financial loss in ostrich farming and the swallowing up of several English mems fortunes of $2Oo000 and S250,- coo each, the industry has become one cf the most profitable in this region, says the Pomona (Cal) Review The South Pasadena ostrich farm, which used to be a loser by about Sl5, 900 a year, has become a money-maker. Its owner Edwin Cawston formerly of England, cleared over $45, ,000 during the year ended September l.
 Most people have an idea that an ostrich is plucked of its plumage by holding the giant bird down with straps and ropes. while an attendant pulls the feathers indiscriminately from the birds back and wings But harvesting ostrich feathers is a sci entific operation that demands eXperi- cnce and care, lest birds costing from $500 to $1,7o0 be ruined for wealth production.
 When a plume is ready for it's plucking it is known Gs ripe The Os- trich expert goes over the flock, care fully selecting from it birds whose feathers show that the ripening of ;he plumcs has set in. Then the birds are separated into focEs ef 12 and If. and confined in little inclosures, where they may not run about a damage l,t oIl iy ready for the season of feather pluck ing each ostrich is cajoled by basket of food held before it out of the in closure with it's mates into q narrow passageway built of heavy boards. Front and rear gates are closed. and the great bird is prisoner between walls of blanks that reach to it's back, and where there is no room for it to move in any direction. A cloth bag is thrown over the ostrich's head and the creature is fast in the tolls of the feather harvester.
 About half an hour is spent in plucking each ostrich. There are three men in each plucking crew. They stand upon a platform outside the pen where the ostrich is held fast. and with d dozen odd-shaped scissors and appliances for stanching blood that may flow from the birds torn flesh work diligently. Care is taken to leave eaough feathers to protect the smaller feathers. which will grow into plumes by the next plucking In the early days of ostrich farming in southern California little attention was given to these details, and in con sequence many birds died
 Most of the tail feathers are pulled, not cut off. because they reproduce letter than on other parts of the os- trich, and because they are so short that the extra inch or two gained by not shipping the feather is a matter of several dollars more profit. Each plume when cut or pulled is laid in a clean box
 While the feather harvest is pro- ceeding the ostrich keeps up an inces- sant low roaring, and but for the tghtness of the pen it would kick the flank boards into sivers At last. when the plackers have done. the gates are opened and the bird rushes out into the inclosure to join it's mates Then another ostrich is caioled into the narrow pen. and the gathering of other feathers goes on.
 The plumage of the older birds is eenOminated second-class in the mar kets. The older ostriches are kept largely for breeding purposes. A few Cstriches in Southern California are n.ore than 50 years old. and there are Iscords of Nubian ostriches that have lived 70 and more years.
 ostrich farming is unusually pros porous these days All the southern California ostrich farms that were losing money steadily a few years ago have doubled and trebled their num- Der of ostriches and increased their land holdings. Some $700.000 is now invested in ostrich farming in this re- zion, and the annual output of feath- CTS has grown to be over Sf00 000
 The success of California ostrich farming has come largely from an in YentiOn of an ostrich incubator by a young woman in 1894. In ostrich do- nestle economy the male sits upon the nest of eggs laid in the sand oc- casionally relieved by the female
 In the hot Nubian deserts this plan works admirably. Eut on little farm in the colder climate of California where the birds flock together the sit ter has SO much to distract il from the nest that the eggs are frequently al lowed to get cold at night Therefore d whole annual setting has often been lost The incubators have remedied all this. and now the percentage of loss by infertile eggs is less than ten per cent