OSTRICH FARMING.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4657, 7 December 1883, Page 3

OSTRICH FARMING.

Chickens are unsatisfactory, as many ehicken-raisers Lave learned by sad experience. Ostriches, on tbe other hand, seem to be all that could be desired, judging from the experience of certain ostrich-raisers in the colony of Victoria, Australia. As the climate of Victoria is not much warmer than that of oar Middle States, ostrich raising in those and our Southern States would be an interesting, profitable, and improving occupation. , In his native Africa the Ostrich is accustomed to a great deal of sand and Very little food. He retains his fondness for sand when' domesticated. The man who desires (o keep ostriches must cover his back-yard with a layer of two feet of sand if he wishes his ostriches to be contented, and must also set out a few bushes in which the birds can hide their heads when they desire to conceal themselves from yiew. In such a back-yard a pair of ostriches will thrive and multiply, and their owner, if he is an intelligent man, will speedily grow rich. Tbe ostrich is readily domesticated, and can be fed Tery cheaply. In Australia the sight of ostriches roosting on the back ftnee has become so common as to attract nfjp^ttention, and though a female ostrich, when she gets into the garden and begins to scratch the ground for her young, will throw turnips and beets to a distance of twenty or thirty rods, and dig trenches twelve or fifteen feet deep, in twenty minutes by the watcb,only a very careless man will allow his ostriches to get into the garden. Of course, the fences must be made very strong, so that they will pot break down when an ostrich poises himself on the upper bar, either to crow or to sleep, and the size of an ostrichnouse—which has to be at least thirty feet high—makes it somewhat costly; but ostrich-keeping is so immensely profitable that the ostrich-keeper need not grudge tbe expense of making the birds comfortable. Unlike chickens, which require grain and other delicacies, ostriches can be fed upon almost anything. In Australia they are generally fed upon the cinders from the cook's range, and upon empty ale*bottles. It has been found that the latter diet gives a peculiar and beautiful gloss to the feathers, but it is perhaps less nutritious than the former. For young ostriches the bottles are broken into small pieces and sprinkled with cork shavings, the effect of the latter being to prevent them from taking cold and developing these lenlhened diseases of the throat to which the young ostrich is so liable, Ostrich-keeping in this country would be attended with one advantage of which the Australians have had no experience. The ostrich-keeper, even in the gulf States, would be able to keep his ostriches with safety, no matter how many colored camp-meetings might be held in this immediate neighborhood. To enter an ostrich-house and carry off an ostrich without alarming its owner would be an impossibility. Not only is the bird far too big and heavy to be carried off by less than three or four colored men, but on .being ludely awakened in the middle of the night he is sure to kick with tremendous force. The attempt to steal ostriches in the South would merely result in the mysterious death of a few colored men, and would then be totally abandoned. At present the Southern chicken-raiser who can raise ten per cent, of his chickens considers himself fortunate; but were he to devote himself to ostrich-raising, he would undoubtedly raise nearly every ostrich batched on the premises. When ostriches have become too old to lay, they make admirable substitutes for the spring chicken of railway restaurants. Not only is one ostrich equal in size to dozens of chickens, but it is practically indestructible, and in cold weather it can be served up for many successive times and to thousands of successive passengers. It is quite possible that after having served for a time as spring chicken the aged ostrich could be worked up into waterproof boots. At any rate, experiments with that end in view are now in progress in Victoria, and it is very probable that they will be crowned with sue* ceS s.—The Argonaut (America).