THE WEST SHORE.
35
sales have increased 100 per cent in the last six years.
Six years hence, at the same ratio, 1,500,000 cases will be
sold. With proper care these enterprises ought annually
to pay to labor $3,200,000, leaving fair margins to capital.
This sum disbursed in a community would have a cur
rency or debt-paying power of ten times the amount and
add much to the general prosperity.
G. H. Atkinson.
THE OSTRICH AND ITS HABITS.
A correspondent of the New York Times thus speaks
oi Dr. Sketchley's ostrich farm near Anaheim, Gal.: The
birds lay eggs every other day. Age does not affect
them. I have seen a pair of birds which were eighty-two
years old, and they were just as valuable for brpeding
and feather raising as ever. Were they decrepit? You
cjukl not tell the difference in any way between them
and very much younger birds. I have known birds
thirty years old, a pair, valued at $1,000. You can see
the chances here. If the birds are in proper condition I
expect that we shall have GOO chickens in a year. The
difficulty in ostrich farming is in raising the chickens.
They catch cold. But when they are over a month old
they are all right Ostriches have no disease that I
know of, and I have had eight years' experience with
them. When a chicken is six months old the value of its
feathers is about $10; when it is fourteen months old the
value is between $20 and $30; and when the bird is be
tween three and a half and four years old the value is
about $250 annually. Sixteen years ago the business of
ostrich farming was begun; now $40,000,000 are invested
in it An ostrich is apparently about the most ill
tempered bird in existence. They never acquire a fond
ness for ony one. They have no particular preference
ordinarily as for mating. They are always on the look
out to kick some one, and if the kick has the intended
effect it is pretty sure to be fatal. The blow is aimed
forward and is accurate. For this reason the person who
pulls the stocking over the ostrich's head at the time
when the feathers are to be 'cut must be wary and experi
enced. As Dr. Sketchley walked along by the corrals, of
which there are about a baker's dozen, the ostriches, with
a few exceptions, followed along with an evident desire to
get a kick at him. The birds, when they found he was
out of their reach, lay down in the dust of the corral and,
rocking violently from side to side, beat their bodies with
their heads with all their available force, which from the
sound seemed to be considerable. It was such a sound
as might come from a muffled drum. Having indulged
in this outburst for a while, they stalked about with that
peculiar gait, which seemed to be their property in com
mon only with the camel or dromedary. A striking dif
ference exists between the corraled and farmed ostriches
and those running over the African deserts, inasmuch as
the latter never fight The birds have to be hunted
scientifically. Certain facts are known one being that
the birds will always run in a semi-circle. First they
will run with the wind, that they may use their wings to
help them. After they get what the sailors call "a head
wind," they go around the other way. They must be run
down. On hnr? er.nr.ct "rind" ihcui. TLo 8ul
trouble is to keep them in sight Thoy will run forty
miles on a Btretch. If they ever got a breathing spell
they will get away. The hunter starts out with a fresh
horse. A Bushman boy rides another and loads one. As
soon as it is seen which way the bird will run, the boy
takes his cue and drives to where he thinks the hunter
will need the fresh horse. In the meantime the ostrich
singled out for the chase and the hunter are speeding
along like the wind, the latter straining every nerve to
keep in sight of the bird, and the bird making its most
prodigious strides for freedom. A groat deal now de
pends on the Bushman boy's judgment in having the
fresh horse at the right place, that no time may bo
wasted. It is seldom that the boy makes a mistake. The
hunter leaps on the fresh horse and gains on the bird,
which, growing tired, goes more -and more awkwardly.
The hunter has only, when he catches it to rap it on the
head with his hunting whip and the chase is over. There
are really only two kinds of ostriches, the North African
and South African birds. The males are black and the
females drab. All are of one color, drab, until after they
are two years old.
RAILROAD NOTES.
Garrison, on the Northern Pacific, will hereafter be
known as Lloyd, and the Utah & Northern Junction, a
mile distant, will be called Garrison.
A bill is before the Legislature of British Columbia
to incorporate the Okanngan & Shuswap Railway Com
pany, to construct a road from Lake Okanogan, via
Spallumcheen Valley, to Seven Mile (or Tonas) Lake.
Trains on the Oregon & California roud now run to
Medford, the new town in Rogue River Valley, and the
line will soon bo completed to Ashland. How long the
latter place will remain the terminus will depend upon
the progress made in the Siskiyou tunnel. The con
tractors were ordered to suspend work on the tunnel
February 7, and the timo when it will bo resumed is not
announced, though officials say the dolay is only tempo
rary. The Oregon Pacific Railroad Company is displaying
much energy at Yaquina Bay. The steamer Yaquina
has sailed from New York with a large cargo of material,
and after her arrival will run as a passenger and freight
boat between Yaquina Boy and Snn Francisco. The tug
Favorite has been purchased in San Francisoo for ser
vice on the bar, and rails are being shipped from that
city for completing the track. Everything indicates a
vigorous prosecution of the work the coming season.
The Yellowstone & Missouri River Navigation Com
pany bos been incorporated to run a line of steamers
between Glendive, Fort Buford, Poplar River, Bismarck
and Pierre, connecting at Pierre with the Chicago k
Northwestern Railroad.