Los Angeles herald., 1907-12-22
INDUSTRIES
GROWTHRElNARKABLE
SIX STORES OPENED WITHIN
TWELvE~MoNTHs
Success of Last Few Years Has Re-
suited In Strong Demand for CALI
fornia Product Throughout
the Country
BY E. H. RYDALL

No branch of California product has en-
joyed such a remarkable advance within
the past year as the culture of California
ostrich feathers. Since the last annual
report six stores have been opened in
Los Angeles, all exclusively dealing In this
new California product, an industry which
now employs some two hundred people
and is destined to form one of the leading
commercial articles of the Golden State.
1t is from Africa we get the ostrich
between the years 1882 and 1887 two hum
dred of these creatures were imported
into California by enterprising Americans
and Englishmen, the result whereof Is
the present California ostrich population,
which numbers about seven hundred.
For twenty years the local ostrich farm
ers had a hard struggle and were COM
PEELED to resort to procuring money by
making exhibitions of their ostrich farms
ALI the earlier investors gave UP the
struggle in despair, having sustained
losses amounting to many thousand dol
lars. Finally, toward the end of 1899, one
Of the California farmers, by a vast
expenditure of British gold, so interested
the resident and tourist femininity that
demand for the true California ostrich
feather was created, which time has only
increased. and now to such an extent that
luc5c LUIS <Au6clcS olOIcS, uedlluB SOltly
in California ostrich feathers, pay total
of twelve thousand dollars a month rent,
an item which of itself indicates the rapid
growth of this new California industry
and its appreciation by the women of this
vast commonwealth.
Birds Not Sold
There are no sales of California os-
triches for the reason that the bird Is
a profitable feather producer and the de-
mand for California ostrich feathers al
ready vastly exceeds the supply Tho
American ostrich Is not so prolific as the
African. Experiments with incubators
have been tried with satisfactory results;
1t may be safely asserted that an in
crease of Is per cent may be relied upon
by the California ostrich farmers. Many
of the eggs deposited by the local os-
triches are found to be infertile, while
In many that mature to embryo life death
appears as soon as the little creature
fractures the shell.
Ostriches If sold would be worth about
$125 each, the infant ostriches, fresh from
their shells, having a standard value of
$25 each. Each ostrich will produce about
$40 worth of feathers per annum, while
the hens may be credited with about half
as much for the egg shells, which are
sold as souvenirs.
While in consequence of the multiplicity
of show ostrich farms the revenue from
this exhibition will gradually grow less
yet the increased number of California
ostriches will furnish that demand for
California ostrich feathers that even now
exists and is satisfied by the feathers
from other localities sold under the name
of California. So well has the California
ostrich feather been glorifled to the
women of the republic that it is doubt
less true more imitation California are
sold than the real; this is form of acci-
dent ever attendant upon the successful,