ability of plucking the breeders, which as a rule command the highest prices, is a question upon which the ostrich men are not agreed; but it is conceded by all that the feathers of the family birds are not of so high a quality as are those of birds untroubled by household cares. Some of the farmers "unfeather" the parent ostriches, while others do not.

The value of the annual yield of feathers per bird ranges from $30 to $75. The ostrich generally advances to a ripe old age, often passing the three-scoreand-ten mark. Its plumage does not begin to deteriorate until it is about fifty years old. As it yields its first plucking at the age of six months and is deprived of its feathers every eight months thereafter, meanwhile eating only about onefourth as much as the average steer, little wonder that it sometimes-using a phrase that trips easily-is worth almost its weight in gold.

What is the future of the industry? is a question that naturally confronts the ostrich farmer. In order that the testimony may not seem er parte it is only fair to state that the grower has certain problems to deal with more elementary than those of scientific breeding.

Perhaps that of raising the chicks presents the biggest obstacle. In spite of the precautions that are taken, about 25 per cent of the young birds die; and, as has been stated, this rate of mortality is considered abnormally low. The adult ostriches run at large, yet if the best results are obtained they must be given close attention. Then there is the danger of the bird's impairing the value of its feathers through accident-though, of course, this danger is somewhat remote. Or, as is sometimes the case, the bird, no matter how valuable, may die in its prime. And the greater its value the greater the loss to the owner.

On the other hand, the owner of any kind of livestock runs risks essentially the same as those just recounted. The fact is, as has been pointed out, the ostrich as a revenue producer holds decided advantages over the ordinary livestock, especially in the issue of food and repeated returns. Moreover, on the point of sustained attention, the same may be said of any animal on hoofs; and so far as the question of the bird's meeting an untimely end is concerned, this-when I visited the Pan-American farm, containing 3,200 birds, less than a dozen were

confined in "hospital" pens for sickness or injury by accident.

The Arizona ostrich farmer, though conservative in his statements, sees a vista filled with potential opportunities. The farms are growing in number and the herds are increasing. At present practically all the feathers are shipped to New York factories, but the tendency is toward "home industry." The Arizona and the Salt River Valley Ostrich Companies maintain small factories of their own, and the PanAmerican Company is preparing to make an additional investment of $200,000 on its farm, notably in the erection of a modern factory.

Certain it is that the industry is a likely "infant," full of promise in the health - giving climate of Arizona. When it is considered that there are hundreds of thousands of arid acres suited to ostrich raising, and that there is imported into this country annually in the neighborhood of $4,000,000 worth of feathers produced in Africa, the future of the ostrich business in the United States seems assured. For her demand for ostrich plumes wherewith to decorate her hat and fan and stole is not diminishing, with the in

creasing demand for all sorts of luxuries -it is constantly mounting higher.

The ostrich ought to feel highly indebted to the fair sex of our land, whose demands have stimulated the enterprising ostrich farmers to bring these huge birds to the United States. As a result, he is no longer hunted down on horseback, or

O

N thousands of ranches in our once wooded west the owners have cleared only ten or twenty acres out of one hundred and sixty during a long period of ownership; where the stand of timber was heavy and the stumps are three to six feet in diameter, only four or five acres; and development has been retarded. Pulling a big molar, whether dental or terrestrial, is usually a painful and difficult ordeal-and that is the difficulty. The stump is the thing!

The char-pit process, a new adaptation of an old principle in removing stumps, is at present attracting great attention in Oregon and Washington, where thou

sands of acres of logged-off lands have for years lain idle because the task of clearing them has heretofore been so formidable both physically and financially. Prof. H. W. Sparks of the State Agricultural College at Pullman, Washington, about a year and a half ago began to experiment with a new burning Since then he has been employed to teach the method at farm institutes and elsewhere in the Northwest.

I recently attended a stump burning demonstration at Vancouver, Washington, when the Development League of southwestern Washington held a convention there. Professor Sparks first removed the bark all around for about

twelve or fifteen inches up from the ground. This is absolutely necessary, as bark is porous and a non-conductor of heat. If the stump is green, chop through the sapwood at that point where the fire is to be lighted. As it was rainy weather and he wanted to make sure the fire would burn, he dug a little trench around

the tree and put some sawdust in the trench to absorb the oil he afterwards applied. Then he put on kindling wood. Over this he poured several quarts of fuel oil. Then he put on wood. Both wood and kindling he obtained from material lying around on the ground near the stump. The fuel extended to a height

of twelve to fifteen inches. At the top of the bank of earth close against the stump he laid bits of rotten wood and bark to keep dirt from sifting down between the fire and the stump. With a soil that does not break up much, this would not be necessary. Then with a spade he laid clods of soil on the fuel all around the stump, making a covering about three or four inches thick, leaving an opening to start the fire on that side exposed to the wind. He laid each spade ful on carefully. If the covering is uniform, it settles down uniformly as the fire eats into the stump. After the fire was lighted, within fifteen minutes or a half hour it had got a good start and