The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-02-14
ON AN ALLIGATOR FARM.
In Hot Springs the Reptiles Are Rais- cd for Proflt-Elght Hundred in
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Tn iHot springs the Reptiles Are Rais-
 cd for Proflt--Elght Hundred in
 One Enclosure.
 Of all queer forms none are more un- usual than alligator farms. There are only two in the world Gen is at St. Augustine, Fla. and the other at Hot Springs, Ark. The one at Hot Springs is by far the larger. It is on a small mountain stream that feeds a series of little lakes or ponds. These are made use of to form the breeding grounds, "stock yards and winter quarters for this unique branch of the great American livestock industry.
 The Kansas City Star says there are at all times on this farm between five hundred and eight hundred live aIli- gators, ranging in size from little baby gators less than six inches long up to Big Joe" nearly fifteen feet long. The little fellows have all been matched on the farm, but the big ones were caught in the swamps and bayous of the south.
 The alligator is a cannibal, and for tht reason 1t is necessary to separate the ponds by means of heavy wire net ting and to place reptiles of very near ly the same size in each inclosure. Big Joe, the monarch of the establish ment, weighing almost six hundred pounds, is kept by himself. Otherwise he would soon be the only alligator there, One practice at the Hot Springs Farm is not likely to meet with the approal of the boys The city poundmaster delivers all the homeless and unlicensed dogs caught on the streets to the manager. Then the poor dogs are killed and fed to the alligators. When a sufficient supply of dog meat is not available, tainted meats are pro- cured from nearby butchers. or from the great packing houses of Omaha and Kansas City. The alligator is not at all particular, but seems to prefer his meat little spoiled.
 At the alligator farm the females are robbed of their eggs as soon as fin- ish depositing them, These are then placed in an incubator for matching. After being matched the little ones are placed in separate inclosure, to pre- vent their elder brothers and sisters from eating them. They grow very slowly, so that an alligator two feet long is at least fifteen years old, and one twelve feet long may be anywhere from 10 or 150 years old Some reach a length of sixteen or eighteen feet and are supposed to attain an age of more than five hundred years.
 If allowed to follow their hibernat- ing habits in captivity the alligators would bury themselves in the mud and lie dormant for nearly half of the year, and business would have to be suspend ed during that time on the alligator l farm. A way had to be devised for circumventing, in part at least, this hibernating instinct. The winter quar- ters are in long, low building, divid- ed into many compartments. Each compartment contains a pool of water | through which run steam pipes so that 1 the water can be kept at a constant | temperature. One small pond will con- tain two or three hundred alligators | in their dormant condition, piled on top of one another like So many sticks of firewood. There they lie, apparently lifeless through the winter not awak- ening even to taste the most tempting morseI of food, though it be held against their noses; but when any are wanted for waiting costumers of for shipment to distant points, 1t is an easy matter to enter the building and select as many as are desired.
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