The San Francisco call., 1906-12-25
OSTR|CHES THRIVE
IN ARIZONA
Big Birds Imported From
Africa Twenty Years Ago
Are Rapidly Increasing
ALFALFA BEST FOOD


feathers, and If they were dependent
solely on the stock imported from
Africa it would be out of the question,
but the American ostrich farms have
fiourished, so that a large part OF the
supply is now home product
The worlds total supply of ostriches
is now said to be about $4,000 birds
All but 10000 of these are in Africa,
the native country of the biggest birds
The stock is not decreasing, for it is
one of the good fortunes of the ostrich
that to take his feathers does not cause
his death. The feathers would drop
off themselves if not removed and there
is nothing painful about the operation,
though the vanity of the bird makes
him resent the process.
WORTH $500 A PAIR
The ostrich is too valuable a bird to
be ill-used. On the average ostriches
are worth $500 pair and each one
will produce $50 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 it's quill.
even the handsomest being fortified
with two additional feathers under
meath, making three layers in all, and
five on six layers are sometimes needed
to give the tip the thick, luxuriant
effect so much admired. A single os-
irich feather is scant and slim, indeed,
and no woman would look twice at one.
Preparing the feather is everything.
From first to last an ostrich feather
passes through nearly 100 different
hands before being delivered to the re-
tailers.
IN SALT RIVER VALLEY
African merchants estimate that the
industry brings into Africa every year
SIS, 100000 hence it Is hardly to be
wondered at that they oppose shipping
of the birds to the farms of the United
States In fact. when the first expert
ment was made by. an Englishman in
California he had to pay as high as
$1,000 a pair for his birds.
Along the Salt River valley in Ariz-
ona the development of the ostrich in
, dustry is steady and prosperous. The
average compares we'll with those
shipped from Africa. The stock is
probably not as fancy as some of the
specials brought out by the more ex-
perienced breeders of South Africa, but
the size of the American bird is in
/
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
almost anything. No serious diseases
have yet affected the birds owned in
the United States. Not even the so
called barring of the feathers has been
observed.
NO LONGER AN EXPERIMENT
tits only little more than two dec
ades ago since the first ostriches were
brought into the United States with the
serious purpose of attempting their cul-
ture here. Before that time the only
ones seen here had been adjuncts to
circuses.
When the experiment was attempted
there were many misgivings as to the
venture. This doubt has passed now,
for not a single one of the farms is
cradle profit.
When full grown the ostrich is about
eight feet tall and weighs 200 pounds.
His enormous legs are possessed of
great power, which makes the bird a
remarkably fast traveller.
| The female ostrich, when once in the
mood, is a strenuous layer. She gener-
ally lays fifteen to twenty eggs, suf-
fcient for a setting, and in the course
of a season will hatch out several
broods. Where the barnyard fowl turns
out its progeny in twenty-one days,
just twice that time is required for the
ostrich
CANNOT HASTEN INCUBATION
Experiments have demonstrated that
the hens time for Matching eggs can
be curtailed to nineteen days, but the
ostrich declines to be hurried. and 1t
always takes full time. Both male
Pan 10 fok ka in cftfipO "a
eggs. The nest is an excavation In
the sand and the male bird lodges the
rays of the sun by doing the work in
the nighttime, the female sitting all
day.
Plucking the p1umes is done every
| eight months. At that period the
plume is cut off and later when the
stub dies it is plucked out This
operation does not cause the bird any
pain
The plumes are then assorted with
respect to size and beauty. those of
| the male being considered of much
finer quality. His plumage is always
black and white, while that of the
female is drab. The wing feathers
frequently run to twenty four inches
In length. The tail feathers are also
used, but they are not as long nor as
| valuable
CLIPPED IN CLOSE QUARTERS
| The plucking of an ostrich has to be
done carefully, for the legs of the bird
are powerful enough to disable man
or even to endanger his life. The clip
ping generally takes place in small
| quarters. where the ostrich has no
chance to use his deadly legs to ad-
vantage. and further to lessen the
danger the head of the bird is COW
! cred with a sack so that 1t cannot see
the ravaging of its plumage.
| Outside Of the first cost of the birds,
ostrich farming is not aAcostly venture
The food bill Is not a big one and a
| farm of couple hundred acres isebig
! enough to take care of as many birds
as any farmer would want to handle.
The birds have to be kept in Enclosures,
for while many of them become tame,
others never lose their wildness and
Observation-Disclosures Chronicle.
SUBSTITUTE FOR OvERCOAT
ssNo II wasn't carelessness so rr,,,c h