The Washington herald., 1914-02-06
3, NARY 3. MuLLErr.
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Out in California, where she lives. they
call Miss Ximena McGlashan the But
terfy Princess" That's because she mas
the only butterfly farm In America. She
Is only eighteen years old-which b quite
the proper age for princess-and she 10
as dainty and as pretty as one OF the
choicest specimens Of the live stock sne
raises.
Her father is really responsible for her
starting her farm. He has . big place at
Truckee. and there was no particular rea-
son why his pretty young daushter
shouldn't have planned. to reside there
in ease and comfort until the fairy prince
happened along.
But in, true American girl fashion she
wanted to do something" So she de-
cided on the very unoriginai occupation
OF teaching. One day. however. her fath-
er happened to remark that she could
make more money raising butterflies than
she could out Of teaching. she demanded
that he prove his words. And he did.
Yes. indeed! Mr. McGiashan wears to-
day the halo of true prophet; for his
young daughter is making several thou
sand dollars a year out of her butterflies
and moths. She manages In addition to
spend her winters at the University OF
California, where she Is devoting herself.
as she says. to acquiring a sound ento-
mological education"
When she challenged her father to
prove his remark about the tcomparative
financial returns from pedagogy and
from butterflies. the first thing he did
was 10 show her how to sugar" trees In
order to catch the "fies"-which in tech
nical talk Is short for butterhies-and
also the moths which would come to feed
on these prepared sugar spots. Then he
rigged up a lantern for her. fixed her
some cyanide jars and a net. and behold!
the future pioneer butterfly farmer OF
America was ready for business.
shipped Thoaaands of Files.
Inside OF three months she had shipped
10 100 flies and had received $50 for
them. In addition. she had gathered
about 1900 eggs. larvae. and pupae. with
which her real farming began. She has
captured as many 657 moths in a sim
gle night. She has collected 100 larvae
from a single bush. first spreading sheet
underneath II and then beating the foil
age with a stick or with her hands.
Some OF her sugaring routes take her up
lonely mountain trails. And as she has to
do this work at night. and generally goes
alone. circumference Is that she must be
a decidedly plucky princess. She goes
alone because the moths. which she cap
lures while they are feeding on the
sugared trees she has previously pre-
pared, are easily frightened away by even
slight noises. But though she always
carries an automatic revolver, she says
she has never had occasion to use 1t.
Her busiest months are from June to
October. During this time she rises with
the lark-or whatever Is California's
earliest bird-and works until 10 o'clock at
night. The female butterflies and moths
which she captures she keeps until they
have finished laying their eggs. During
this time she has to feed them fresh food
every day: and, as she keeps the butter
flies separately. each pinned inside OF a
paper bag. her catering job IL one that
requires a great deal OF attention.
The flies" die after all their eggs are
laid; but at that point Miss McGlashans
duties have only just begun. She keeps
close watch of the eggs to see that they
hatch at the right time: and when that
happens she has to resume her role OF
caterer. furnishing the larvae fresh food
for them just the diet they prefer. too.
Tempts Their Appetites.
Into the test tubes. where she keeps the
eggs, she puts bits of different
kinds OF leaves TO tempt the appetites
of the larvae. Then she watches to see
on which leaves the little creatures gath
sr: and these leaves she puts on their
iaily menu.
Last summer she taught FIVE pupils how |
10 run a butterfly farm. and she has ar
ranged for a whole class to come to
rruckee next summer and to learn |
here the methods she follows. She says
hat the expenses OF the work are in |
significant. And although il keeps the |
farmer pretty busy for few months. |
here isn't much to do the rest of the |
year. The demand for flies and moths |
comes from schools. colleges, private |
decorators. and makers of
butterfly jewelry and similar articles.
Miss McGlashan has sold ll.5O0 speci- |