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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 29, 1908)
D THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: NOVEMBER 20, 190S. How 400,000 Ostriches Bring: Their Owners $7,000,000 Per Annum (Copyright. 1. by Frank O. Carpenter) 11 ORT ELIZABETH. Special Oar- j i. ' '.. 'It.' PI respondenca of The Bee. ) This I In tho chief ostrich feather port ci me wona. xn finest plumea which decorate Uia hat a of oar C. - x 1 -e " . .,--- Si - - CS - ' " - - 'V Amartcaji beauties ar rained In 'ft t ... . . ; r m w j r.T' .J j Cap Colony, and mora than tano.ono worth of them were sent from Port Elisabeth to the Unite States lajrt year. Tba moat of tha cat rich feathers used by man are now raised on tha farma of Cape Colony. Thar Is something like 400.000 blrda engaged tn the business and they produced mora than 1.000.0CO pounds of fs tiers last year. Those feathera sold for mora than t7.00O.0OO, bring ing from S10 to $130 per pound. HI ST rurttr Market. The chief ostrich feather market la Port Elizabeth. The feathers are aent tn by the farmers and country merchants ana are sold here at auctions which are held every two weeks. They are carefully packed In box.s and Bested before shipping, and are consigned to licensed agents who sort them nnd soil on a commission of JH per cent. The sorting Is dona at so much per pound. The auction sales here ara held In what Is known as tha feather warehouse. This rovers more than an acre, and it conalats of a great room filled with trestle-work tables. Upon these tables the feathers ara laid out In lots, and tha feather buyers from all part of the world look orer them and bid on each lot, a It Is put up for sale. 80 me tlmes IIOO.OTO worth of feathera ara dis played at one time, and tha yearly auc tions bring In several millions. After buy ing, the festhers are resirted and then ship ped to New York snd London and other great cities of Europe. The greater part of the product goes to London, where there are great feather, auctlona held severs.! times every year. Some of the very best plumes, however, are exported direct to the United States, the resorting and fin ishing of them being done by our milliners and dealers at home. The poorest feathers go to Germany, where they are made tip Into boas and plumea for dolls' hats. Tha London feathers are resorted before they are Bold, the auctlona there handling twenty or thirty tona every two months. The aver age price brought by the Cape Colony - feathers last year waa over S12 per pound. Srleatlfle Ostrich Rearlas;. The business of ostrich raising Is fast becoming a science. The government here Is Interested tn It. and It has all sorts of laws to protect the farmers. There Is a government veterinary surgeon at Port Elizabeth, who spends all his time studying ostrich diseases. There Is an ostrich breeding association, and this has a stud book. In which the pedigrees of the must noted birds ara laid down. There are certain farmera who have so .Im proved their stock that their ostrich chicks will bring from $500 to $1,000 apiece, and certain cork blrda will sell for $1,000 or more. There Is a man named Kvans whose ostriches jtand very high. He Imported a Barbary cock some twenty-five years ago and bred him to a fine native hen. Since then he has steadily Improved his breed. The ostrich farmera pay great attention to the study of the feathera, watching the blrda which produce the best nd crossing them with others, trying to bring about a com bination which will yield the finest and most valuable plumea. There are certain localities which produce better feathers than others. The Oudtshoorn feather, for Inatance, reaches twenty-nine and one-half inches lit length, tha Graff Relnet measures about twenty-three Inches and the Mlddleburg la about twenty-two. The latter feathera are a little bit better than the Oudtshoorn as to cer tain points, bu aU are especially fine. , 1 Kept Like Maie Stock. yVlthin the last few years there has beert a great change In ostrich farming. A generation or so ago nearly all our feathers came from the wild birds. They were hunted with dogs and guns and were often raptured In pitfalls. Then along about fifty years ago some young ostriches were tamed by a 8outh African and ostrich breeding began. Aa far back as 1S6S there were only eighty tame ostriches In the world. A few years later the cuatom of hatching the eggs In In cubators began, and In 1875 tha number of tame birds here had Increased to over 10,000. Still later came tha great ostrich boom, and In 1882 the feathera were sold at $20 and upward a pound, and people came from everywhere to Bouth Africa In the Field Electricity on tho Farm. HE difficulty tn obtaining aatls- sVw- I factory farm hands, together I I with the greatly Improved qual- I I ... ... Ill mA 1 v j iiiuiuiuaiiuu uu imut.u lenca which electricity gives. Is causing a growing demsnd '.MS for a reliable and reasonably economical source of electric energy with which to supply both light and power on the larger and more prosperous farms of the coun try, says Popular Mechanics tn an illus trated article In the December number. Within tie last few years the amall In ternal combustion engine and the electrlo storage battery for atatlonary service have bven so much improved and simplified as to cause them to compare favorably with tha better known typea of power producing apparatus In reliability of operation and In first cost. The extreme slrop' city of both this type of engine and the storage battery, together with the very great econ omy In fuel cousumptlun, the low price of fu.el, and the efficiency of the battery as a device for atorlng the energy and delivering H in the form of electric current when needed and In the quantity required, results in a very low operating cost A farm of $00 acres on Long Island, re cently equipped with electricity, will give some idea of cost of Installation and oper ation as compared to the cost of power derived from the circuit of a nearby power company. A study of the lighting Instal latinon planned for thia particular real-' dance, with Its stable and farm buildings. Indicated a probable average lamp kad on ordinary evenings of sixty-four lumps in usa four hours. To supply the necessary electric current for this lighting load, to gether with that for the three or four power motors, which the owner had planned for, would have Involved a yearly est tor current alone. If taken from a lighting company, of between,, $1,000 and $U, and besidea this, the interest on the coot of installing the private feeders. By Installing a private plant, tha coat of which In thia case amounted to about $3,500, the yearly coat of operation figured out ap proximately $660, being made up of eost of fuel, lubricating oil. waste and minor repairs amounting to $J50, and Interest and depreciation at U per cent amounting to $4 JO. As the plant was so Installed that its operation should bo practically automatic. Bo charge Is Included for attendance. The person looking after the plant need not necessarily bo a skillful mechanic, and his duties would not bo much more than to oach day start up the engine and gonsrator yy..'-r- :7-;Y- .;,r " V.-':''l," .-:-v' " iV x i ' i-'- -' .''V'-iJ;,v?.1-. "; ' ''i 1 C, .,v .-4t'' , ;: ?-c!-;.:ifv rv.'Jv; .? . ,;!'..ra yf y,-lr ,y . -j. . . . r . . . - - ' - T-.. - v t - . .... ., --,,..., . to engage in tha business of producing them. At that time the average price of a pair of blrda was $975. and some sold for $4,000 and more. Only about half as many ostrich feathers were then ex ported as now and they sold for more than $5,000,000. As the business Increased the farmers learned how to raise ostriches on less and less land. At the start the birds were allowed to run In camps of from t.OOO to S.000 acres and twenty acres was allowed for each. This Is still the case on tha great plateaus, known as the Karoo, but there are now farms about Oudtshoorn and elsewhere, where two ostriches are kept on one acre and where they ara fed like fine stock, so much grsss and other food being allowed to each per day. Fed Alfalfa. It has been recently found that a great deal of noney can be made by raising os triches on alfalfa or lucerne, and especially so where that crop can be raised on Irri gated lands. I have estimates showing that five ostriches have been kept In this way on one acre, and that they have yielded feathera to the amount of $26 to $3o per ostrich per year. This means that one acre of land brings In something like $150 or more per annum, and that from fifty acres a man. can make from K000 to $8,000 per year. Onfall auch farma the ostriches are kept In small flelda. The uaual paddock Is an acre with a wire fence around it, iuad fie fielda are separated by paths three feet or more wide to prevent the birds fighting and kicking one another. Two birds, a cock and a hen are kept in each paddock and one acre of alfalfa amply suffices for their grazing. Some of the farmera cut and stack the crop and then feed It to the ostriches when other food Is short, snd some let the birds graze. Alfalfa-fed birds have glos-' aier feathers than those fed upon wild grass and bristles. Their quills are heavier and weigh more. They alao break easily and for this reason are not so much liked by the dealers, as tha plumes of the birds from tha veldt Irrigated land suitable for os triches Is fast increasing In value; I am told that tha best now being $1,000 per acre. Wild Ostriches. THirlng my stay In Africa I have seen many wild ostriches. There are some In the Sahara. They live along the borders of tha desert, and one sometimes sees the os triches with wings outstretched, swimming through the air, over the sand. I saw a few tn the Sudan, and in Omdurman waa able to buy the choicest of white plumea from the wild bida at about $3 apiece. There are many ostrlchea In British East Africa, and Somallland. All along the Uganda rail road, from the Indian ocean to Ike Vic toria, they may be seen feeding upon the of Electricity for either the direct service or for charg ing a storage battery with reserve energy. Electricity for Stcasa. To a degree little appreciated by thosa whose attention Is not especially directed to the change, has the mode of substituting electricity for steam, as a motive power, progressed. Already the cars going in and out of New Tork City are moved by elec trical power, says the Brooklyn Eagle. In less than a year's time the passengers to New Tork City who now pour In of a morn ing by ferry boats from the railroads, will all be brought to the greater cltjr by elec tricity. In a yeara time four. If not six, terminal tubes will be in operation and tha cars running through will be moved ss are those In the Brooklyn tubes, by electrical power. Aa a part of the revolution, the various lines of railroads running out into New Jersey will be electrified. Work of this kind is now being done on the Erie. The Pennsylvania is given less to an nouncing what It proposes to do than what it has done. Nevertheless, thero are lndi- . cations that It has already engaged on the work of electrifying Its system from New York to Pittsburg.. The Central railroad has been making plans for a long time which involve the possibility of the move ment of all Ita cara, passengers and freight between New fork and Buffalo. Some day. In not the far future, we shall all of us wake up to the appreaiation that we are looking upon a locomotive as a relic of an archiac period, when soot and dirt was the Inevitable consequence of railroad travel. Vr'hen consumption of coal by the motor engine is no longer a part of rail road operation, more comfort and satls wlll be ths satisfactory result '"The sub- factlon in 'ravel and more of the travel stitutlon of electricity for steam is "a con summation devoutly to be wished." World's 8 apply of Water. Among ths European countries. Franco has an estimated available water-power of 4.jO0.00O horse-power, of which suO.OOO horse power is utilized. The region of the Alps extending into France brings the figure as fctgh as mentioned. Italy, it is stated, has an equal amount of water-power available, but only Ai,0Ot horse-power is used as yst In that country, falls of 10.000 horse -power ere abundant. Tho estimate for the avail able water-power la Bwltserjand is Incom plete, but X,u0O horse-power Is in use. The available power in Germany is TOO. 000 horse-power, loO.UOO horse-power being util ized. In Norway the estimated power is hAj.OOO, and In Sweden, 7ao,0u0, a large part OSTRICHES OF THE KAROO. high plains. I understand that there are aome In Abyasinia and many west of Rho desia, In the Kallharl desert. The feathera of the wild birds are oily, and they have long quills. They are freer from bars and other blemishes than are the plumea of the tame blrda, and they bring a higher price 'In the market Down hers in South Africa wild blrda may not be caught, hunted or ahot, and the man who takes wild ostrich eggs from any of the crown lands without a license Is subject to a fins of $100. The lime penalty is attached to hunting or wounding a wild bird upon pri vate lands' without the owner's consent Egyptian Ostriches. During my stay In Egpyt I visited a large ostrich farm near Cairo. It has something like 2,000 birds, and the feath ers are largely retailed to tourists. The farm lies on the edge of tba desert not far from Hellopolls, where Plato taught school, and near the tree under which the Virgin Mary and the Baby Jesus rested about nineteen hundred odd years ago. This farm has been carved out of the desert. It is divided up Into fields, which are surrounded by high mud walls. There pre alleys In some of the fields, and you can walk over the farm, seeing ostriches of all ages, sizes and sexes, engaged In all the occupations of ostrich life. Some of the birds are eight feet In height and some are no bigger than Plymouth Rock Ivrns. The male and female ostriches are kept In pairs, and usually there is one pair or more In each field. As I went through I shook my fist at one laxly oetrich, and her husband got angry. The neck, head and lega of the old cock turned as red aa blood, and he snapped at me with his bill like an angry dog. ' He tramped up and down the pen, lifting his big two-toed hoofs high, and the tur baned Egyptian who went with me told me that a kirk from him would kill a horse or knock my head from my shoul ders. Hatrhlasr by Incmbetora. It was on the Egyptian farm that I first saw ostriches hatched In incubators. The farmer told me that the eggs were taken from the neat every day, leaving one for a nest egg Just as we do for chickens. About twenty eggs are allowed to each pair of ostriches when setting, and the balance of the forty-odd eggs, which the hen lays, goea to the Incuba tors. I saw several hundred eggs. Each was as big as the head of a six-month-old baby. It was of a smooth. Ivory white, freckeied over with little black specks. In 'he Incubators the eggs are laid in of which Is already developed tn both coun tries. As regards available water-power, Russia heads the list it being estimated that 11.000.000 horse-power could bo taken out of the Russian rivers, of which only 85,000 horse-power has been developed. Great Britain and Spain come last In the estimate, only 70,000 horse-power being util ized in either country. It Is stated that Japan has available water-power of 1,000,000 horse-power, of which only seven per cent has yet been utilised. It has been stated, on good authority, that there Is already developed or under development in the United States 4.600,000 horse-power from water sources, ar.d tile government's statistical figures indicate that the available water-power In the coun try Is nearly 10,000,0 0 horse-power developed, with probably another BOO.OuO available. A 400,000 horse-power hydraulic electric plant Is being planned to be Installed at Keokuk, la., on tho Mississippi river, to , furnish power and light to Davenport, Bur lington, Rock Island and other manufactur ing cities and eventually to St. Louie. Cooking; by Electricity. On of tha first authentically recorded and officially supervised tests of the practi cability and the economy of electrlo cooking Is to be begun by W. C. Maddox, a research fellow in the engineering experiment station In the university of Illinois. Two different tests are to be made, the one to demon strate the feasibility of preparing food for a club of twenty students and the other to show that electricity is preferable to other fuels I a cooking for an average fam ily of six persons. Electric ovens, broilers, coffee pots, and even electric flat irons are now being installed in the houaea where the experiments are to be made. Tha teat are to begin November 15 and will continue for a period of two or three montha Telephone Operation of Trains. An editorial writer In Telephony says that the telephone is supplanting the telegraph In the operation of, railroad trains. Mod ern railroads could not be run without electrical means of communication. "About the time that American railroads began their development the telegraph was tha only electrical meana of ' communication adaptable to the dispatching of trains. It was adopted, and for many years It has served its purpose faithfully. Business has a way of developing in accordance with the means at hand for doing it. While this often directs affairs along narrow lines, the limitations of tho moans are la many cases not felt Bo the railroad busi ness has developed around tho telegraph. But ths day of that Instrument la passing. Many times In recant years tha telephone has been seriously and urgently proposed to displace tho telegraph for dis patching trains. Among tho obstacle padded boxes and ara kect In a room where the temperature Is Just about 100 degrees Farenhelt. As the time for hatching approaches they are tested day after day by placing them In a hole In -the wall of a dark room. Thia hole Just fits the egg, so that the light shines through and shows Its condition. If the egg la not fertilized the light comes through the shell. If It is there will be only light at the larger end, where the air chamber la. The egga are turned every day, and when the chicks are Just about ready to hatch, the shells are broken with a tack hammer. The baby ostriches are then taken out snd laid away for twenty-four houra in boxee of warm cotton. Before going further they have their eyes tested, and if they are lightish In color they are killed, for the light-eyed ones are albinos and are of no good for laying. Breeding; Ostriches on the Karoo. The most of the farmers of South Africa now use Incubators, but many let the birds hatch their own eggs, and. on nearly all the large farms you may see these great creatures sitting on tne nests which they have dug out of the sand. Tho breeding season begins In June and lasts until the end of September, but If the birds are well fed tlK-y will continue to breed all the year round. Aa the time for breeding approaches the breeders are camped off in pairs, a field of six acres or less being given to each cock and hen. The flelda are often separated by double fences, as the cock ostriches aro very Jealous when their mis tresses are laying and they will fight one anotlwr and often break their legs In their attempts to kick through the wires. The cock always picks out the place for the nest He then kneels down on his breast bone and kicks nut a round dish Shaped hollow In the sand. When It Is fixed to his satisfaction he rosxes the hen ostrich to it and gives her Instructions tn lay. If satisfied, she goes to work ahd liys one egg every other day for about twenty days. She may then take a rest and begin to lay again, keeping on until she has laid forty or more. When she thinks she has enough she begins to set, and hern the old cock comes sgain on the Job. He sets on the eggs fully half of the tlm and. ss a rule, takes charge of them st night. If the hen stays off too long he grows angry and drives her back to the nest. At the end of forty-two days the eggs are ready for hatching and the chicks begin to kick their wsy out In this the cock often assists them by breaking the shells with his breast bone, and the farmers sometimes go from nest to nest and gently which have been raised Is that It would do away with high-priced help, since anyone without previous training could use a tele phone. Months and years are required to become a good telegraph operator. Indeed, not every man can pick up the art. He muat begin when young, and keep at it, if he desires to become a first-class operator. A close examination into the duties and re. qulrements of railroad operation will re lieve any person of the fear of materially lowered wages. What the railroads need is men to help operate the railroads, not merely telegraph operators It takes Just as much brain aa ever to run trains, and the railroads will hsve to paygood salarlea to get men of reliability, in whoae handa At the, . : ' ' ..'. . :m - -S IHUli ....... . ! . ... . rap or crack the shells, that the chicks may break them apart. , The chicks, when first bom, are dear little things with feathers of the downy nature of a chicken Just hatched. They are as big as a full grown hen and seem to be all eyea and neck. They waddle about like ducklings and are very delicate. Here In South Africa they are often kept away from their parents at night, being placed in packing cases which are floored with dry sand and covered with bagging. After they are two or three months old they are allowed, to sleep together on the floor of a warm room and after six months they can run about and will stand almost as much cold aa the old birds. They grow fast At the age of a month they are as big as a turkey and at seven or nine months their first picking begins. rinrklna; the Feathers. Harvesting the ostrich feathers goes by . the general name of plucking. Thia glvea one the Idea that the plumes are pulled out. This Is not so. Such treatment would cause great pain and Injure the blrda. The process should be called clipping or cutting, for the quills are snipped off with shears', and this causes the ostriches Just about as much pain as shearing doea sheep. The first festhers of a chick bring but little more than $1; but after that the plumes Improve right along, and It Is not uncommon for a grown bird to yield over $Ki0 worth In one year. The cutting of the feathers Is done'every eight or nine months. The plumes from the wings and the tails of the full-grown male birds are the most valuable, and It makes a great difference In their value, as to how the feathera are cut. There are twenty-five long white plumes on each wing of a cock. The rest of the feathers are black on the male and drab or grayish on the fmttle. In addition there are smaller feathers known as the ostrich tips and others, so that one bird will yield about at a plucking. After the feathers are taken off they are carried Indoors and sorted Into about twenty different lengths and colors. They are then tied up In bun dles, weighed ind packed up for the market. The cheap tips bring something like $5 a pound, while the plumes from tha wings and tails are worth (JO per pound and upward. Rltndfolded Ostriches. Plucking an ostrich is no essy matter. I would rather tackle a mad bull than one of these great birds. If I had no means of defense. The only thing the cock Is afraid of is a thorn bush, and this only because he fears it may put out his eyea With out that he might run at you and kick you to death. The oetrich kicks high, and the best remedy in such cases is to throw the loada of freight and human beings will be safe. It haa been a marked dif ficulty In the past to get good men for the smaller offices, men wno were expert both in telegrsph and tha general business of tho company. A man might be a flrst claiis operator, but lack the necessary tact for dealing with the public. Or he might meet the public properly and handle the business correctly, but be poor st the key. The Introduction of the telphone will make if possible for the railroads to secure as agents men of good general qualifications who will not be barred by lack of technical skill called for by the telegraph. This will result In better service to the public and better standing for the railroads.'! Commercial Club's 4 - ' ' v :' v-ki . .r- .Kr iv FLASHLIGHT PHOTOGRAPH OF THE STEAK ERA' ....Ht- .( , A SIGHT SELDOM BEEN. fry--. If I:"- " . ' ' . . I v: .-er PLUCKING THE yourself flat on the ground. Then an old cock may kneel on you and squeeze you, but he cannot kick so as to hurt. At the time for plucking the ostriches are driven by the farmers or the native blacks Into plucking boxes. These ara little pena made for the purpose. They are Just about large enough for one os trich to stand In without moving around. After the door Is shut the bird can do nothing, and he cannot kick, aa the aides are too high. He is kept quiet by means Prattle of the "Kitty," said her mother, rebutctngly, "you must sit still when you are at the table." "I can't mamma," protested the littlo girl, "I'm a fldgetarian." Bessie (aged ) I wonder why minis ters are called doctors? Bobby (a boy of philosophical Ideas) I guess It's because they try to make people better. Small Edna, who had been struggling Good Fellowship . ' . a 3 .; i -V it-t M--' i i,C-Wi- "y- ' f . -' - , j ...... sy - - " - : ' ...... v , , .:. . !.?'. ,''.' ..' '''' 'j ' ?''"-' . -''"yyy - j TABLE! ON TITESDAT NIGHT, NOVEMBER U. UXdL 'mH ir If'.. ,M.y - - FEATHERS. of a stocking or great cJoth mitten which Is drawn over his head. His wing are now raised, and the plumes cut off with scissors, the work going on until all the feathers are taken. The ostrich roars mournfully during the process, but In reality it hurts him but little. When turned out he looks as ugly as a sheep after shearing, but within a few weeks the stumps of the quills die and fall out. and the new feathers begin to appear. FRANK G. CARPENTER. Youngsters with a large umbrella one rainy day, cam to her mother and said: "Mamma, you'll have to take me down town and have me measured for a new umbrella. This one Is entirely too big for me." Teacher What letter is shaped on the top live a V and at the bottom like an IT Johnnie A hod. The man who Is looking for trouble al ways finds It and then some. Dinner T7T 1? Mi - -ils- it tit 7