Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-03-25
Dixie Goes Ahead
THE TERRAPIN TRUST.
BY FREDERIC J. HAsKIN

sists mainly of one man named Bar
bee, and lot of sand. 1t doesn't try
to control the market, or squash COM
petition. 1t doesn't have to. Mr..
Barbee has an absolute monopoly, SO
far as he can learn, of the production
of genuine diamond back terrapins In
captivity, for the excellent reason that
no one else has been able to master
the secret of the business.
A number have tried, for it is a
secret decidedly worth mastering. Mr..
Barbee Matched out 5000 little terra
pins this year, and each of them will
sell in his third year for about three
dollars. Overhead charges are almost
nothing. A few acres Of sand and
marsh are the establishment, and the
live stock eats fiddler crabs and fish
which may be obtained right at the
farm. Figure the profits for yourself.
The unique and remunerative sue
cess of Mr.. Barbee is that Of single
! minded devotion to one object in life.
Twenty-seven years ago he was con-
ductor on street car line in Savannah
which ran out to the Isle of Hope. By
way of speculation one day he
bought number of terrapins from
some negroes at twenty-five cents
apiece, and found that he could sell
them in town for great deal more
than that So he bought more terra
pin and presently began shipping
them. Then he retired from the street
car business and became profession
al 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 important thoughts was
that if he could produce terrapins in
captivity, his business could be ex-
banded almost indefinitely. So he
| built a little shed, lined it with the
finest beach sand, led little streams OF
water through it, and placed therein
number of terrapin. 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
winter. and when they came out in the
spring. For long time, however, he
could not discover way of Matching
terrapin in captivity.
At this point Mr.. Barbee draws q
veil across the course Of events. This
is where the secret comes in. For he
did discover way of making the
| leathery eggs of the terrapins hatch
in box Of sand-without sunlight
and without artificial heat. He sim.
ply puts the eggs in that sandwich
is specially prepared-and at a mo-
ment which he can foretell almost to
the second, precocious young terra
pin 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
methods.
When he announced to the world
that he had perfected process for
Matching terrapin eggs without the aid
of either sun or artificial heat, the
scientists ridiculed the idea. An
eminent specialist Of the United
States bureau of fisheries pronounced
Mr., Barbee fraud. He said the thing
simply couldn't be done. Thereupon
Mr.. Barbee packed number of boxes
! with sand and terrapins and eggs, and
not in wrath, but in a very determined
! mood. he took train for Washington.
| There he went to a prominent hotel,
set up his sand boxes in the lobby, and
sent for the doubling fishery expert,
the newspaper men, and all and sun,
dry to come and see terrapin brought
! into the world without the aid Of arti-
fetal heat or sunlight. The scientists
! and reporters arrived in time, but no
more punctually than the infant
reptiles. These triumphantly emery
ed from their shells at the psycholog.
ical moment, to the complete dumb.
founding Of the scribes and sages.
Since then the fame and fortunes
of Barbee's terrapin farm have grown
apace. Almost every year Mr.. Barbee
goes to New York and matches few
terrapin in public just to give the
newspaper men something to write
about. And everyone who comes to
Savannah goes out to see Barbee's
terrapin farm, and eat terrapin stew.
,, Mr. Barbee shows and explains abso-
lutely everything-except the secret.
+! 1T is something mixed with the
! sand is all he will tell you about that.
Many distinguished persons have
hour of April Is. A prominent place