Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 71, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 March 1917 — SOME STRANGE FARMS [ARTICLE]

SOME STRANGE FARMS

Turkey has its mosques; Russia has its J lß ' sacks; Germany has its U-boats and Mexico has its fleas; hut the United States has the queerest farms in the world. At Pasadena, Cal., Edwin Cawston operates - what is perhaps the largest ostrich farm in the world Of course, it isnl everyone who uoud care to keep ostriches. But Mr. Cawston doesn t mind it a bit, for he controls a great pait of the ostrich-plume supply of the world. If you have ever purchased an ostrich plume of the first giade vou may have a faint inkling as to how much money can be made from an ostrich farm, if you know how. Once Pennsylvanians got thg fever and started an ostrich farm up near Sunbury, but the poor, unoffending birds refused to become acclimated ; said they were not snowbirds, or something to that effect. Be that-as it may, s ostrich farm remains today the greatest in the At Victoria. in Mexico. thereis a parrot ram h. And some distance beyond Los Angeles, Cal., there is an immense pigeon farm. There one will find nearly 15,000 pigeons. And almost everybody knows that there is money in pigeons; indeed, where is the schoolboy who hasn’t kept a few at one time or another? Also, in Colorado there is a bear farm. And somewhere up in Canada is a man who is making money by rearing wolves; the skins bring handsome prices. At Hot Springs, Ark., H. J. Campbell has an alligator farm, which is but another-of the American queerest farms in the world. But down in Florida, where the alligator grows, the farmers used to shoot the whole blooming family. .It is said that between 1890 and 1900 more than 3,000,000 saurlans were killed. Of course, perhaps there was. ample reason for this wholesale butchery The alligators seemed to take great delight in depleting the farmers’ herds of catde. Even the docile cow was not immune. Naturally, making away with the alligators in wholesale lots caused a shortage in alligator skin, and the leather manufacturers felt the pinch. Alligator farms were the result. And Mr. Campbell goes We Nature <*s® ter—he hatches ’em out In Incubators. they get beyond the stage where they look like woolly worms with iron-clad backs, the alligators are allowed to shoot the chutes, play tag and otherwise make the most of life. But eventua y eventually —the sword of not Damocles but Camptoell falTs. Later, thepri<ie of the family receives as a graduation gift a lovely alligatorskin grip or suitcase, and he and the baggage-smashers, gll unmindful of the shattered romance and the pitiful tragedy back of the advent of the grip or suitcase, treat it shamefully. That’s life for you. crossing them with cattle. . In Oregon they are raising Chinese pheasants, but the story of how

People Surely Have Unusual Means o< Money Making In United State,

the ostrich was first introduced to America is one that must be told. In 1882 an unknown soldier of fortune filled the hold of fi steamer bound for New York with more than 100 ostriches. Now, these gigantic birds weigh as much as 200 and 3QQ nonnds. even more. They are accustomed to sunlight, the open range anil above -all, fresh air,—J3iitZ~here -they —were, packed in badly ventilated pens in the smelly hold of a tramp steamer.' The pitching and tossing of the steamer also was responsible for the death of many 'of the birds. At any rate, but fi mere handful of the original shipment arrived in New York.' Later they were shipped to San Francisco, and still later to Anaheim, in Lower California. Terrapin farming is one of the newer industries. Down on the Isle of Hope, Georgia, is one of the greatest of all terrapin farms. And the United States bureau of fisheries has been studying the diamond-back terrapin for the last eight years down at Beaufort, N. C. There terrapin have been Tn the pounds for more than six years, and the young have long ago reached the age where they can take care of themselves. William Hagan has an immense fur plant down along the shores of the Delaware —he raises muskrats, and makes money at it. During the season ol 1914-15 Mr. Hagan realized more than $2,000 clear profit on his immense farm, which extends over an acre of acres. But muskrat farming is a very strenuous business. In the first place, the farmer must wait until fall before the regl “farming” takes place. It Is then that the skins are at their best. The animals are caught—the greater part of them —by means of stake traps; that is, traps attached to stakes. The stakes also serve as a guide. Then, too, the trappers take with them a needle-pointed rapier, used to spear any stray rat which may attempt to fleet at the first warning of danger to him or his. And those hipbooted trappers can spear a rat with all the deftness of a William Tell shooting an apple. If you have never seen a muskrat farm, drop down to Mr. Hagan’s be surprised to see how an “underwater” farm Is managed, and you’ll hardly be able to believe there are so many muskrats In the world. Some days he averages more than 150, and he has come very near to the 200 mark. Yes, there's lots of money in muskrat farming; but unless you’ve got the constitution of an Alpine chasseur, don’t attempt It. Joseph Matlack of Moorestown. N, J., owns what is perhaps the largest guinea-pig farm In the world This much Is uncontradlc table?He rafses more of them than any grower in America, and makes money where others fail. Now, that’s something to be proud of. Any man can be a farmery but to be a successful farmer—well, that’s something different. Of course, there are other guineapig farms which enrich their owners —lots and lots of them. But in the guinea-pig world Mr. Matlack Is king.—Philadelphia North American.