92 OSTRICH-FARMING IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



town miglit do with the cheaper lines, but could do 

 nothing with the best lines. Or in the lots made up of 

 one kind of feather only, the quality in the same case 

 varied so much that only in exceptional cases could the 

 same retailer make use of all the feathers it contained. 



The consequence of this is, to play directly into 

 the hands of middlemen by keeping the retail dealer 

 out of the public sales, and leaving it to middle- 

 men to buy there, and, by re-sorting the feathers, to 

 suit the retail dealer wdth the article his particular 

 locality consumes. 



It would be much to the advantage of the Ostrich- 

 farmer if Cape merchants generally would study this 

 subject more, and learn how to make up cases to suit 

 the various retailers, so that they would acquire the 

 habit of coming more to the London market instead 

 of buying from the middleman, Avhose profits mean 

 so much taken out of the pockets of the Cape farmer 

 and merchant. 



The great complaint against our Cape feathers is 

 a want of fulness, closeness, and breadth of fluff of 

 the lower part of our feathers, as well as a want of 

 weight at the tip. But we have seen many parcels 

 of Cape feathers that would compare favourably with 

 the best Barbary feathers, and if this complaint 

 against our feathers were more generally known by 



