132 OSTRICH-FARMING IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



cause of their recovery; when in reahty it was a change 

 in the weather, or the natural vitality of the animals, 

 that effected the cure. The good old proverb, '' One 

 swallow does not make a summer," should be borne in 

 mind by all farmers. Whilst we would be the last to 

 have farmers reticent in speaking of and publishing any 

 cure or preventative they believe would be effective or 

 beneficial, they should avoid the mistake prevalent all 

 the world over of proclaiming as a proved fact that of 

 which the data they go upon is insufficient to constitute 

 proof. 



As soon as the chicks are about two months old, put 

 them on a field of old lucerne, if possible, and let them 

 pick entirely for themselves, putting them in a shed at 

 night. The sooner they are left to run day and night 

 the better : if kraaled they will persist in eating the dry 

 dung : besides, their feathers get dirty, and they never 

 thrive so well as birds that are allowed to run at night. 

 Spec boom is an excellent thing to feed them on in 

 dry times. 



Since fever has become so prevalent, some farmers 

 have taken to letting the old birds rear the chicks for 

 the first month or two. By this means more are lost 

 by accidents, and of course a great waste of the parent 

 birds' time is entailed ; but as yet, in the upper dis- 

 tricts, this has succeeded excellently, though we are 



