Wairarapa Standard Published Tri-weekly, Price 1d. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1886. Ostrich Farming.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XIX, Issue 1890, 29 September 1886, Page 2

Wairarapa Standard Published Tri-weekly, Price Id. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1886. Ostrich Farming.

Nor many days ago wo noticed the exportation of ostrich feathers from Now Zealand by Mr J, T. Matson of Christchurch, and tnere is no doubt that many of our readers who are interested m the subject of ostrich farming will watch the development of this new industry. Some three or four years ago Mr Matson succeeded in obtaining a few of the birds from the Cape, but he was only just in time, for very shortly afterwards some Californian speculators sent an order to the Cape for 230 pairs of ostriches, which so alarmed the South Africans that their Parlia" meat, which happened then to be in session, at once imposed a prohibitive duty of £IOO per bird and £5 per egg on their exportation. Mr Matson persevered with his experiment, however, and he recently shipped from his Christchurch farm two thousand feathers to the London market. Id nonneclion with this export we give a little informa turn on the subject of ostrich farming. A gentleman narrated at a meeting of tbe Cape Agricultural Society his experienc. Towards the end of 1863 he purchased seventeen young ostriches of three or four months old, and placed them in an enclosure of 300 acres, over which they had free run. The opinion he had formed from many months’ observation was, that 33 ostriches might find suffi> cient sustenance upon 300 acres of good grazing ground. In April. 1864, he had the wings of tbe birds cut at the point where tbe well-known ostrich feathers grow ; and they were fit again to cat six months later. Having caused the feathers to. be examined by experienced dealers, be found that the largest, of which there are 24 on tbe wings of each male bird, were worth £25 per lb ; and that tbe plucking of bis 17 birds would yield £lO each on an average. The birds cost him about £5 each. Since this expert meat ostrich farming has become a recog uised form of industry at tbe Cape, as it soon must be in New Zealand, especially in the North Island, where the climate is admirably adapted for the birds. At the Cape the price of a healthy bird a week old is £lO, and of a six months-old bird £3O. The feathers may be plucked when tbe bird is a year old, and each crop is worth about £7 a bird. The price of the feathers ranges, according to quality, from a few shillings per lb to £4O or £SO. In 1875 there were 32,247 domesticated ostriches in Cape Colony. Mr Matson is tbe sole owner of ostriches in New Zealand, but we have no doubt, with the large demand that exists in the chief countries of the world for these feathers, thav Mr Matson will not be alone long in this field of profitable enterprise.