The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1908-08-07
RAISING ALL|GAT0RS.
ONLY TWO PLACES IN LAND
WHERE INDUSTRY PREVAILS.
From 500 to 800 Reptiles Kept on
Ranch at Hot Springs, Ark,
and Culture Is an Inter-
esting Process.

Westinghouse is claimed that the
alligator farm in Hot Springs, Ark, is
larger than that in st. Augustine, Fla,
and that these two are the only farms
of the kind. The farm in Hot Springs
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" "stockyards" and
winter quarters" for this stock indus
try.
There are at all times on this farm
between 500 and 500 alligators, ranging
in size from little baby gators, less
than six inches long, up to Big Joe,
nearly Is 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
that reason it is necessa y TO separate
the ponds by means of heavy wire net
ting and to place reptiles of very near
ly the same size in each Enclosure. Big
Joe, the monarch of the establishment,
weighing nearly 600 pounds, is kept by
himself. Otherwise, it is alleged, he
would soon be the only alligator there.
The eggs are placed in incubators
quite similar to those for Matching
chickens. After being Matched the
little ones are placed in a separate in
closure, to prevent their elder brothers
and sisters from eating them. They
grow very slowly, so that an alligator
two feet long is about two years of
age, and one IL feet long may be 10
years or more. Some reach a length
of 16 or IS feet.
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 sus-
pended during that time on the alliga-
tor farm. Some way had to be de-
vised for avoiding, in part, at least,
this alternating instinct. The winter
quarters are in long, low building di-
vided into many compartments. Each
compartment contains a pool of water
through which. run steam pipes, so that
the water can be kept at a constant
temperature. One small pond will
contain 200 or 300 alligators.
Hundreds of baby alligators are sold
every year to patrons of the health re-
sort at Hot Springs for pets, for home
aquariums and for curious mementos
to be sent to distant friends. For these
purposes little creatures not more than
six inches long are preferred. Reptiles
of larger size, from two feet in length
up to the largest than can be obtained,
are sold for use as advertising novel
ties, and for exhibition in amusement
parks, museums, shows and menager
les. Large numbers Of all sizes are
killed, stuffed and mounted in striking
or fantastic attitudes and used for or
namental and decorative purposes. The
skins are tanned and manufactured
into suit cases, satchels, handbags,
belts, pocketbooks, and, in fact, almost
anything that can be made of leather.
The durability, beauty and costliness
of the tanned hides cause them to be
esteemed among the most desirable of
leather materials. Even the teeth are
not wasted, being manufactured into
small ornaments and articles of jewel
ry and sold as curiosities.