Evening star., 1916-03-26

the street car business and became a
professional terrapin broker, while
operating a small restaurant on the
side, where he sold terrapin stew
For years Mr.. Barbee ate terrapin.
talked terrapin. thought terrapin. One
OF his most
Spends Long Hours p m p or | nj
Watching Terrapin. that if he
could produce terrapin in captivity
his business could be expanded almost
indefinitely So he built little shed.
lined il with the finest beach SAND, LED
little streams of water through it. and
placed therein a number of terrapln
Every day he spent hours smoking his
pipe and watching his pets live their
lives Just as they had in the wild state.
He found out what they ate and when
they crawled into the sand for the win
ter. and when they came out IN the
spring For a long time, however. ne
could not discover a way of hatchlng
terra pin in captivity
the history of the church and this Is
At this point Mr.. Barbeee draws
veil across the course of events. This
is where the secret comes IN. FOR ne
did discover way of making the
leathery eggs of the terrapln hatch IN
box Of sand-wtthout sunlight ana
without artificial heat. He simply puts
the eggs in that Sandwich is spe-
cially prepared-and at moment
which he can foreten almost TO the
second precocious young terrapln
will bite his way out of each one of
them. There is no guesswork and no
mistakes Mr.. Barbee seems to have
rather improved upon natures meth
DDS.
When he announced TO the world that
he had perfected a process for hatch
ing terrapin eggs without the aid of
either sun or artificial heat the sci
entists ridiculed the idea. An eminent
specialist of the United States bureau
of fisheries pronounced Mr.. Barbee a
fraud. He said the thing simply
couldn't be done. Thereupon Mr. Bar
bee packed a number of boxes with
sand and terrapin and eggs, and not
mood he took a train Tor Washington.
There he went to a prominent hotel,
set UP his sand boxes in the lobby,
and sent for the doubling fishery ex-
sundry to come and see terrapin
brought into the world without the aid |
of artificial heat or sunlight. The sci |
entists and reporters arrived In time, |
fant reptiles These triumphantly
emerged from their shells at the psy-
Geological moment, to the complete
dumfounding of the scribes and sages.
Since then the fame and fortune of
Barbee's terrapin farm have grown
apace. Al
Fame and Fortune most every
Have Grown Apace. bss roes 70
New York and matches few terrapin
in public just to give the newspaper
men something 10 write about. And
every one who comes to Savannah goes
out to see Barbee's terrapin farm and
eat terrapin stew. Mr.. Barbee shows
and explains absolutely everything
except the secret.
1T is something mixed with the
sand is all he Will tell you about
that.
Many distinguished persons have
come to wonder at this unique method
OF artificial incubation. William Jen-
ni2gs Bryan journeyed to the farm
and Mr.. Barbee placed an egg in his
hand just as the youthful terrapir
stro1led forth 10 the delight and
snazement Of the statesman. The in
fant terrapin is a most precocious
and appealing mite. Mr.. Barbee sells
them for 80 cents apiece pets. So
ciety women have been known to keep
Them in mahogany boxes with brass
trimmings. They display good deal
OF Intelligence. and become very tame
One young lady terrapin by the name
of Toby has spent her entire life of
two years in Mr.. Barbee's pocket. She
has been handled by thousan NOS of per-
sons and is known to every one in
Savannah. Her chief accomplishment
is wiping her eyes with one forefoot
when told TO do
The sale OF these young terrapins at
90 cents each just about pays the ex-
penses Of operating the plant, leaving
the returns from the sale of the greater
part of the stock at SO each clear
profit.
rspin is not a large one. but II is much
larger than the supply. Mr.. Barbee
asserts that the younger generation
does not appreciate terrapin, and sell
dom eats II. except for the sake of
splurginR. The heyday Of the terra
pins fame before the war when
these toothsome reptiles were abund-
ant all over the south. Today they
chiefly appreciated by persons who
learned TO eat them long ago Very
conservative clubs. where elderly col
onels and majors foregather. and very
expensive hotels, which must have the
most expensive foods on their menue,
are Mr. Barbee's best customers and
does something Of business in canned
rerrapin, and mysterious Chinaman
In Philadelphia buys all tho old males
that are too tough 10 be eaten. What
he does with them nobody knows.
The life habits of the terrapin are
most peculiar. but make him a very
inexpensive crea-
Life Habits ture to raise. Every
year in October he
Most Peculiar. burjes himself in
the sand and remains until the follow
ing spring in a dormant condition. OF
course he eats nothing during this
period. aud Furthermore. he comes out
weighing exactly what ne did when he
retired Hi. life is fine proof of the
dement's Of abundant sleep. for he has
practically no diseases and lives to a
very old age.
Three times week the sandy floor
of the shed where the terrap:ns are
kept is flooded, and they are fed with
fiddler crabs and bits OF fsh which
are thrown upon the water. The I'D
dlsrs are caught in great numbers by
Ij,tle negro boys, and are fed to the
tsrrapins alive. Occasionally a crab
succeeds in burying himself in the sand
u he is not wanted Immediately. but