I. AGRICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMY. 389 



In 1861 a pair of ostriches six months of age could readily be 

 bought at the Cape of Good Hope for ten shillings English, 

 while now a single bird a few days old is sold at 5, and 

 one of three or four months brings 8 to 10. The trade in 

 feathers has also shown a marked variation. Thus in 1860, 

 2287 pounds were exported, worth 19,201, while in 1870 

 29,000 pounds were worth 87,074; or, in other w^ords, a 

 pound of feathers in 1860 was worth 8 05. 4d., and in 1870 

 it brought only 3. 



Mr. Heugh, of Aberdeen, South Africa, has a farm of 600 

 acres, on which 70 ostriches are inclosed, partly by stone walls 

 4 feet high, and partly by wire fencing, filled in with bushes 

 to prevent the birds from inadvertently running against 

 them. The first crop of feathers, from 54 birds about 14 

 months old, weighed about 14 pounds all taken from the 

 wings. 



Recent quotations of ostrich feathers in the London mar- 

 ket (March 4) are : " For prime whites, 35 to 38 per pound ; 

 good light feminines,10 to 15 ; black, 2 to 5 ; drabs, 15s. 

 to 2 10s." 3 (7, February 10, 1873, 120, and 19 A, March 22, 

 1873,271. 



THE INCUBATOR FOR HATCHING OSTRICH EGGS. 



A practical application of the "Incubator" has lately been 

 made to the hatching of ostrich eggs at the Cape of Good 

 Hope, and with the most satisfactory results. In the estab- 

 lishment at Hilton, 72 chickens have been already hatched 

 this season ; the total number reared there since its inception 

 amounting to 155. Of 45 eggs placed in the apparatus at 

 one time, it is thought that 42 will produce healthy chickens. 

 19 4, April 5,1873,315. 



CARBOLIC ACID IN POULTRY-HOUSES. 



A writer in the London Field strongly recommends the use 

 of carbolic acid for destroying insects in pigeon and poultry 

 houses, asserting that it neither injures the birds nor tends 

 to drive them from their nests. He uses it in the form of a 

 solution of two ounces of common carbolic acid to three 

 quarts of water, applying this once a week with a watering- 

 pot, after the house has been carefully swept out. Besides 

 the lice and acari that it destroys, it is also efiicient in driv- 



