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Show 1 On an Osiricb Farm I isifornia InJ ity tiw Proves lmmtnty Prafiubl Investment. I feeMBeeaaaaaBaaaeeaeeaaeaaaBBeeBHaaaaaaBBaaaeaBB Ostrich farming In California Is on the top wave of prosperity. Kor montha the demand for nil sorts of ostrich feathers, big or little, soiled or ragged, waving plumes or torn ones, has been larger than the r.upply. About fMXi,-ouo fMXi,-ouo Is Invested In ostrich farming In Southern California, and all this sum earns giaul dividends. It takes $ii.-000 $ii.-000 to start a farm nowadays at the least. The original ostrich farm waa thnt of K. J. Johnson, In Snnta Ana Valley, Mr. Johnson spent several years Irt South Africa studying the ostrich farming as conducted by the French. In Issh he Imported twenty South African Af-rican ontrlchc to California at an expense ex-pense of I.'l'imio. Half of the birds died In two years and more were brought from Abyssinia. A thousand and one rails concerning the keeping of ostriches had to be learned and It cost a lot of money. Mr. Johnson persevered per-severed and he la still an ostrich farmer. farm-er. He has made four Importations oi ostriches during the last eight years and has bettered his flock by adding Nubian ostriches to It. When the first crop of feathers was ready for market there were no buyers for them becauso of the prejudice of millinery buyer lo feathers from California, hut all that baa been fought down, until California Cali-fornia ostrich plume command aa largo a price aa any In the markot. The approach of the breeding season sea-son is always easy to observe. The male birds grow suddenly restlens. As regularly as February cornea around the male birds begin trying to get out. When they find they cannot escape to brosder fields each finally selects within with-in the corral a spot which suits bis artistic taste, and he digs a wide, shallow shal-low hole In the ssnd. Around this he waits until a hen condescends to choose him for a mate. After the marriage mar-riage there Is no divorce or desertion; the two mates stick close to each other oth-er until the close of the breeding sea- r big ustrlch (,rtn Si)lih M the other day. Hnry jrm,)n wh(, , veteran ,irh t:irtWT )n California. I4: h(, lo 0rlrh farming b.e.nw , ifrR(( to among the i birds. The erajltat. mean-est mean-est mule tint ever i,.d ,,. placent and p,l-imiure, by the side of a mean o.tr,h 1 he ostrich can kick in any direction, and there', no - ' rtoek ot Toena. o.lrlehee. dodging the kicks. It's wonderful, too, how fnst they ran kick. "Nearly every mn that knows ho, to care for and to pluck an ostrich In Southern California gets o to 1100 a month; a few itt 1120 a month." IN TIIK UKKKIIINU P X eon. The Lea laws am a each altef- nnto day, and a remarkable fact la that she always lifts her first egr In her beak and lets Its drop and break on the ground. Instinct tells her that her first egg will not hatch, and so ahe disposes dis-poses (t It herself. An ostrich egg I about Iwenty-flve time larger than a common fowl's egg. The ostrich hens sometimes begin to lsy when 2 4 to S years old. though they do not get their growth until 4 years of age. The males are full grown a year later. A good ben will lay three nests of eggs a year from thirty to sixty eggs all told. An ostrich ten years old Is In Its prime, hut when It Is fifteen years old It Is much leas valuable aa a feather producer. At twenly-two It produces only smull plumes. The avernga life of an ostrich la forty years, and one sometimes reaches the age of 100 years. A full-frown ostrich weighs about ,l!j,5iJL,iiiiiiiiliiiii A roll-Urown Male. 300 pounds, and whon strotchlng Its neck stands over eight feet from the ground. The legs are always bare, and the neck Is covered only with a light "fuss." The male birds are the black ones, with while weathers In tha wings and tall. The female bird Is drab; the feathers are equally valuable, as they are almost all dyed before being put on the market. The only feathers old with their natural colors are the white and black found on the male. The ostrich Is first plucked whoa even months old, and every seven months after that. All the valunblo feathers are found on the wings and tall. Fin ostrich plumes at the farm cost 18 or 110 each, and even more for some fancy grades. All the OBtrlch plumes of commence are really double plumes, made hy uniting two of the natural feathers. The stems are pared down and the two are sewed togntkor, back to back. . When the proper time has come to pluck the ostrich he Is cajoled, by means of an orange or u tid bit, until he is headed for a annul!, box-like Incisure, In-cisure, Just largo enough to hold him; a man slips In behind him and. with a sudden ruah, shoves him Into the pen and clnpa the door shut. Here the bird has no room to kick and Is at the mercy of his shearers. |