Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-08
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taking into account the cost OF the other
materials and the making.
Glory of a Costume.

| The modern society woman spends more
| money on her hats than ever before, fol
! the reason that with shopping, calling
! driving and lunching she has her hat on
| most Of the day, and naturally must
make it the browning glory of her EOS
tune.
But 1t is not alone the member of the
| four hundred who dons the feather of the
| ostrich. Women in more moderate cir
| cumstances can get a very luxurious eff
| feet from feather that costs less than
SO. In fact. milliner will say that there
| is no form of headwear in which such
good result can be obtained as from
ostrich feathers.
| The worlds total supply of ostriches is
now said to be about $4,000 birds. All
but 10000 of these are in Africa, the ma
tive country of the biggest birds.
The stock is not decreasing for 1t is
| one of the good fortunes of the ostrich
that to take his feathers does not cause
i his death The feathers would drop off
themselves if not removed, and there is
nothing painful about the latter operation
though the vanity Of the bird at being
robbed of its chief ornament makes him
resent the process.
The ostrich is too valuable a bird to be
iil-used, for on the average they are worth
$500 per pair and each one will produce
some sixty dollars worth of feathers every
year. Hence it will be seen that the owner
has the strongest motives of self-interest
to take care of the birds The feathers
are never plucked till they are ripe.
But the beauty of a feather and its cost
! depend more on its width, on the length
and thickness of its fue or strands than on
the length Of its quill.
To some extent every feather is made
even the handsomes being fortified with
two additional feathers underneath. making
three layers in ALL and five or six layers
1ft; Iz1 r.,- 4.
very thick, luxuriant effect SO much ad-
mired.
A single ostrich feather is very scant and
slim, indeed, and no woman would look
twice at one. Preparing the fea Their is
everything.
From first to last an ostrich feather
passes through nearly one hundred differ
ent hands before being delivered to the re-
tailers.
Immense Profits.
African merchants estimate that the in
dustry brings into Africa every year some
fifteen million dollars, hence it is hardly
to be wondered at that they oppose ship
ping of the birds to the farms of the United
States In fact, when the first experiment
was made by an Englishman in California
he had to pay as high as 81 200 pair for
his birds.
Along the Salt River valley in Arizona
the development Of the ostrich industry is
steady ana prosperous. Inc average COM
pare favorably with those shipped from
Africa The stock is probably not as fancy
as some of the specials brought out by the
more experienced breeders of South Africa,
but the size of the American bird is in
creasing and the health is all that could
be desired.
Ostriches need a hot, dry climate, and
alfalfa is the best food, though the big
fellow is not particular, and will eat most
anything. Indeed, the humorists say that
he enjoys nothing better than a hearty diet
of stones.
No serious diseases have yet affected the
birds owned in the United States. Not