The Ontario Argus. (Ontario, Or.) 1???-1947, 1914-06-04
BUTTERFLY farm
OWNED BY Girl
Makes Good Income by Rails
Ing Hundreds Of Insects.
FINDS A READY MARKET.
Catching the Butterflies and Moths
Only a Small Part Of the Work, ss
Real Difficulty ls Experienced In
Raising Misunderstanding as Well ss
Profitable Duty.

Profitable Duty.
Truckee. Gala California girl with
the astonishing name OF Ximena Nc.
Glashan has the distinction Of being
the first professional butterfly farmer"
In this country. She began the work by
mere chance. but she has made sue.
cess OF It by dint of hard work and nt.
tention to scientific detail.
II sounds very pretty TO be called, as
Miss McGlashan frequently is, "the
butterfly princess" But this particular
princess is a mighty industrious one
In the spring and summer she is often
busy from daylight until after 10
o'clock nj night.
This little fact is worth mentioning.
ns Miss McGlnshnn has received hun.
dreds of letters from women and girls
who apparently want to found whole
dynasty of butterfly princcsses. They
have heard that this young girl. with.
out capital or previous experience. is
making $50 n week out of butterflies
and moths. That sounds pretty good TO
them. But their enthusiasm may suffer
n relapse when they rend the whole
story.
She started her farm" near here
year and n half ago She was planning
then 90 be n teacher. and when one day
she saw her father showing his little
grandchlld how to capture n butterfly
II occurred TO her that the knowledge
might come In handy In her own career
ns an instructor OF school children.
Her father readily consented 20 show
bow the trick was done and casually
hinted thut she could make more
money out OF butterflies thnn I'm peda-
gogy. lie 'sugnrcd" some trees for
her. axed her up lantern and some
cyanide In Jars, showed her how TO
catch moths NJ night by placing the
mouth Of the Jar over the unwary
fcaster on the sugar. and without more
ado she was launched on her career
Inside OF two weeks she shipped
1900 moths and butterflies and receiv.
ed ST5 In return, In ten weeks she
sold over 10000 specimens nt Hat
price OF cents apiece ana had over
$500 In return. In addition. she had
on hand about 10000 eggs. larvae and
pupne. which would hatch out In due
season. These really constituted her
farm and nre the important end Of the
business.
Catching the butterflies and moths
In only n small pnrt ~ the work. The
rcnl Job IN raising them, Onl. perfect
specimens are saleable. and IL Is n
ticklish undertaking TO capture these
fragile creatures without injuring |
them. Many OF them are already n |
tribe damaged. They may have lost |
an antenna or piece OF wing
The first thing this young entomolo |
gist does with her captured specl. |
mems. therefore. Is 10 sort them over
carefully. She liberntes the males that |
are not perfect so that they may go
out aud propagate more Of their spe
cles. The imperfect female specimens
she puts In paper bags. one 10 each |
bag. so that she will have their eggs 20 |
add 10 her stock.
This Is where the real work begins !
In each hag she puts food for the oc-
NhlhHAH NAAN upl uNlibNlN I
their eggs unless confined In n gauze |
bag or its equivalent ana supplied with
their particular food. Every day Miss
McGlashan feeds her butterflies with |
dried apples soaked In water contain
ing little honey or sugar.
With this treatment she persuades
them 10 lay their eggs on the Inside Of
the bag, Some OF them deposit as many
as 200 or 800 eggs. When they have
finished they die The eggs hatch In
varying periods. some In a few days.
others only after the lapse Of months.
Miss McGlashan has them in test
tubes where she can keep track OF their
development During the winter she
puts the tubes in cold storage 10 pre-
vent the eggs Matching before the prop
er food plants are ready
When the eggs come out she has an.
other period of feeding before her. She
caters to the tastes Of these little
worms as carefully as II she were a
high salaried chef supplying "A cuisine
for Il lot of epicures. She experiments
with all kinds Of leaves till she finds
what seems most tempting TO the up
petites OF her charges.
Some OF these she keeps In candy
Jars. II she has many hundreds OF one
kind she places them In a tight barrel.
covering the open head with gauze. Ip
the bottom OF each jar or barrel she
puts several inches OF dirt or leaf mold
ns the larvae like 20 hide In II In the
daytime. Fresh leaves must be put In
every day, the old food taken out and
the receptacle kept clean.
When the perfect moths and butter
ries finally emerge from the pupae they
are ready for shipment and prices are
good