Arizona republican., 1910-03-10

Asked what in his opinion Is the an nual revenue derived from the aver age African bird. MT. White said he ! conld not answer definitely, but he ! thought about S25. and that one can { keep about five birds to the acre. The | African birds. he said, produce finer l feathers than the Arizona birds. as
 they are bred to that end very careful
 ly even at the expense of the health and strength of the bird, all of which was explained at some length in these columns a couple of days ago. But of
 course Mir White in speaking on that phase of the industry was referring
 only to the better African birds. those that are raised on the $500 land. as it were. at great expense and trou- ble and that return their owners prob ably several hundred dollars each per head. There are all kinds of birds in
 Africa. some that are hardly worth kill
 ing. and it would naturally not be
 profitable to raise birds that only re-
 turn a few dollars year. on $500
 land. But the point made is that Ari
 zona land would he worth s1.500 an
 acre if it was stocked with the best
 African birds.
 The question was naturally asked
 how Arizona could secure the African
 birds for breeding purposes, and MT.
 White said he did not see how it
 could be done. as it is a felony to ex-
 port either bird or an egg from Afri
 ca It is quite likely that in time an improvement can be made in the Ari-
 zona birds just as has been done in
 Africa, but it will take a long time to
 reach the same high standard unless
 the choice birds can be secured to start
 with However. it would seem from the broad smiles of the ostrich own CTS here that their feathers are suffi- ciently in demand to make their busi-
 ness profitable. under their favorable conditions. even if the best feathers still come from Africa.
 Asked as to the value of an African ostrich. MT. White said the lowest price he ever saw paid for one was S6 cents and the highest price was s5,- O00. They range all the way between. Their sales of course are confined to transactions between the breeders or those going into the business. and most
  fairs. While it is true that many birds of the cheaper sort raised without par ticular attention. only return their owners s5 or s1g a year. the best breeders will not be bothered with birds that do not return at least $50 per year They sell them or hill them or weed them out some way They could rot afford to raise such birds on high priced land any more than farmer could afford to raise a long horn bone rack of a steer on high priced pasture land.
 MT. White was reminded of an incl ] dent when Phoenix man sent quan- ] tity of feathers to South Africa for and the report made was 1 that the Arizona feathers of the poor | CT grades were as good as the best | grades in that country. He replied | that that was probably true in the com parison made. but he did not regard | the authority of the judge as the | highest for though he was engaged in l astrich raising it was rather a side | industry with him, and he vas not | considered as having the standard | birds of South Africa.
 Altogether though. the remarks or | MT. White were most flattering to the 1 Arizona ostrich industry. If not the ! best feathers in the world. the Ari- | zona product is at least good and has a constant market. and the favorable | conditions here he thinks ought to make the industry a far more profit able one than it is in Africa. Mir i White is himself a native of that land | and is engaged in the ostrich industry | there very successfully. He did not | come here with any notion of stay | ing. but merely to inform himself on | what is going on in the ostrich world | South Africa is Shis home and will I probably continue to he. Neverthe- less he left the impression that If he l was out of business and wanted to get ! in again he would consider the as- i trich business in Arizona as about the l most inviting thing he has seen in | America.