March i, 1882.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
797 
it quality, and it 
Shower of tho S. 
tin eatl 
3ly in i 
fruit. 
Dec. 2f 
dozen to the capt- 
r en days, delivered 
lit the day after 
aiy twenty or so 
though they had 
eacli fruit separ- 
.e case, which it- 
steamer. Under 
uprising that the 
: frequently found 
iity that E. T. S. 
Sr where he had 
could not have 
T. D. M. 
OSTKIi'JI I'AIIMINC 
thai year to June, ISSl, I have never been out of 
that business. During 1869 to 1872 the feather mar- 
ket, sales weekly, averaged £2 500 to £3,000. In 1871 
ostrich farming created a great .sensation in the colony, 
and a groat many people who can afford to buy birds 
did so, price being no object so long as they could 
be obtained, £350 to £450 was paid for a pair of 
birds— that was tho time when the pioneers of the 
enterprise made such rapid fortunes. The feather 
markut was increasing in quantity mouth by month, 
and in 1ST 4 to 1S75 the sales realised £7,000 to £8,000 
weekly. It was thought then that the feather trade 
was getting overstocked, but that prognostication was 
not to be realized, for in 1376 prices began to ad- 
v moe ; in 1877 to 187S (prices you will find at foot 
of my letter). From 1870 to Juno. 1881, the average 
weekly sales on the Port Elizabeth market amounted 
to £18,000, leaving oui the large number of parcels 
which changed bauds priva'cly. I have myself sorted 
featbers in four months to the weight of 3 tons. It 
is very tedious work, and most difficult, especially 
Rhen you have to sort so mauy different farmers' 
prod ueo in classes for shipment . There are also largo 
osirieh auction sales in the colony. I have scon myself 
as in my as 150 pair sold in one day, and on an average 
including young birds, they realised £7" per pair. In 
fact, o-trich f inning for the Inst eight years has been, 
And still is, uaying better than any other fanning 
Enterprise kno%u. I often think tho more feathers 
UK grown the more are wanted. I know personally 
many men who havo cleared all live stock off their 
faruiB on purpose to raise money to buy ostriches, 
the interest upon their outlay being so great. There 
aro also large Ostrich-farming Companies whose shares 
Mrs at a good premium. Tho shares wire taken up 
by all classes, and a great number of mechanics in- 
v bed part of their savin.;*, kmwing the profits of 
the ... uprise. U u.i, said sonu yOira back that 
ostriches would not live here or there, but I have 
bought feathers frcm farmers where it was said they 
could not thrive, and good ones loo, but I must say 
that where what we call in the Cape Colony prickly 
pear and aloes grow is generally a good place, as they 
generally grow in low-sheltered lands where the soil 
is very light. In farming the birds if you want, full 
flesh on your feathers and bright colour you must be 
near the vegetable growth. If you don't give your 
birds vegetable food with other food when you pluck 
them you will find the fleshy part of your feather 
thin and wiry, your coloured one, especially the cock 
bird's rusty-looking which depreciates their value. That 
is the reason the wild feathers are so uneven of late 
yeurs. The country they are now running in is f ar 
up, and the hunters don't care about following them. 
The country ha? and does suffer much with droughts, 
and when tliey are tempted down I heir feathers are 
then in flesh, poor butted, and overgrown, but if 
they could get a good supply of green food tbeir 
feathers would be full, fleshy, and everything you 
could wish for. About three years ago I sorted a 
large lot of wild feathers, about 1,600 1b. in weight, 
which was forwarded to my late employer from "one 
of his stations in the interior; and out of all that 
quantity I could not get more than 00 lb. of prime 
featbers, all the others were more or less wiry, over- 
grown, and faulty. Mr. A. Douglas's farm is iu the 
heart of a splendid farming district, with sheep, goats, 
and cattle on it, and towards the Kowie there are 
some splendid agricultural lands. I have the pleasure 
of knowing his farm, and have been upon it three 
or four times. He has on bis farm prickly pears and 
aloes. There is another large ostrich-farmer at Adelaide, 
about seventy miles from Grahamstown. He also 
farms Angora goats, and produces some of tbe finest 
bair exported from the colony. As I have repeatedly 
said, the secret in ostrich-farming is practical knowledge 
and care of your birds. 1 have travelled part of 
the west and almost the whole of the eastern province 
amongst ostrich-farming, and always got the best feathers 
from a care-taking farmer and where they have had 
green food. A feather-sorter can tell as soon as he 
looks at a feather whether the birds have been cared 
for or neglected iu some way or other, even if he has 
never seeu the bird. 
Notwith 
iing the short time I have been inVictoiia, 
it that ostrich-farmin^ 
irprise under practical 
st prove 
e under practical management. I 
guide what profits can be obtained 
twelve mouths. I buy a 
give £300. If they aie 
i) the mark, their plumage 
etch £50. The lien begins 
say, thirty eggs, but often 
r incubator. Say we get 
;hey are worth £6 10s. a 
th they incre ise io value. 
Hem until they are twelve 
worth £20 each. Twelve 
, £300, 12 mont hs' feathers, 
£500 = £560. On the same 
alised £2,800, lo.-s original 
alue £300, or £2,500 in all. You must also 'bear 
in mind there ore all the chicken,' fealbeis to be, 
r ckoucd on, and tho first, sec Hid, and third brood 
art) laying and producin .', and also b iiig plucked, 
0 id tbe r feath is sold. Many men in the Cap- have 
in that small time fortunes out of oue pair ol birds. 
If a made Company should fomi for ostrich-farming, 
the public would see profits accuring troui t <• enterprise. 
Birds would be ill demand, which would fetch high 
the 
pair of birds, 
good, and the 
at the very Io- 
to lay ; she la 
only" tw< nty-fi 
month old, an 
You won't sel 
months old, 
months' return — 1 
£(50, 25 b i ds, at £ 
s :ale in live yean 
•nterprise. 
retoh lugfa 
prices hero in consider ati n of saving exp hsp and 
risk of shipping On t!i»i -round i Compopy would 
soon recoup itself for all oxpeusos and increase greatly 
the value of the ' 
