the year, and the best time for quilling is the same as that for natural 
moulting, ‘namely, such a time as will bring the feather to ripeness at 
about the beginning of the mating season. The actual dates for this will 
vary somewhat in different districts, but in the Eastern Provinee the best 
times for quilling are from October to February. 
. 
ReEcovERY oF BLANKS AND EVENNESS OF CROP. 
The presence of an uneven crop of feathers is a source of loss and 
trouble to an ostrich-farmer, and perhaps no better test of his ability to 
manage a troop of birds can be shown than by having his clippings even 
and complete, his birds free from blanks, and feathers growing out-of-time. 
This, however, is by no means an easy matter for, independently of the 
causes conducive to blanks and irregularities alluded to above, there is 
always the possibility of the trampling out of partly grown feathers to be 
considered. Under ordinary circumstances, blanks resulting from quilling 
out of season, or while the bird is out of condition, recover with the ad- 
vent of more favourable times, if not all at once, at least following shortly 
upon one another. In these cases it is usual to clip the various plumes 
as they mature, and delay the quilling until all the quills are ripe, when 
the next crop will start even. This necessarily involves a loss of time, but 
no other method has yet been found practicable. 
When, however, only a few feathers are out-of-time, it is not always 
worth while to wait until they .ripen before evening-up the crop. And in 
such a case many farmers do not hesitate to pluck the partly-grown feathers 
at the same time as the ripe quills are drawn. As already shown, a new 
feather is sure to appear from these sockets, but it is not likely to be as 
large as those growing from the sockets of which the quills were ripe, and 
‘ih in the new crop there may be plumes of varying sizes growing ‘side 
by side. In an earlier article (No. VIII.) the question was raised whether 
such inferior fcather-producing sockets ever regain their original power. 
An experiment was then in progress to test the question, and has since been 
completed, as a result of which it can be asserted that ‘nferior feather- 
producing sockets do recover their former power, and in the succeeding crop 
give just as large and perfect feathers as originally. 
This result is very satisfactory from a farmer’s point of view, and 
proves that in evening-up his crops he may confidently expect that with 
proper care and judicious treatment all the feather germs will recover any 
temporary irregularity, and each socket will produce a normal feather. 
It may be left to a farmer’s own discretion whether or not he will pluck 
green feathers growing out-of-time, but he has now the satisfaction of 
knowing that the feather germs will subsequently recover, even though 
the first feather after the operation be inferior. 
For HOW LONG WILL AN OsrricH CONTINUE TO PropUCcE a Goop Crop oar 
’ FreatHers!—Tur AcE or OstRiIcHeEs. 
The question as to how long an ostrich will live and continue to pro- 
duce a good crop of feathers has naturally a special interest to ostrich 
farmers in South Africa. The industry, however, has not been going long 
enough to enable us to answer the question with any degree of co mplctc-' 
ness. The ostrich was first domesticated on a farming taste only about 
forty-five years ago, and not much progrses was made for some time. It. 
is now impossible to trace individually any of the original wild birds with: 
which pioneers like Hon. A. Douglass commenced, but the history of some 
birds can be followed for nearly forty years, 
