e. The ostriches know the hour
of feeding as well as if they carried watches, and are promptly on hand
when their dinner time arrives. In this way they are kept under
domestication and accustomed to the presence of men, but occasionally
they stray away and disappear. The safer way is to keep a native boy or
man constantly with each herd of ostriches, and the herder is held
responsible for the loss of any bird.

"Even then the flock may sometimes be frightened and scattered beyond
the ability of the herder to bring the birds together. On my farm, I
have the ground fenced off into fifty-acre lots. I divide my birds into
flocks of twenty-five or thirty, and put them successively in the
different lots of land. I sow the ground with lucerne, and do not turn a
flock into a field or paddock until the grass is in good condition for
the birds to eat.

"You may put it down as a rule on ostrich farms, that plenty of space
and a good fence are essential to success. In every paddock you must
have a good shed, where the birds can take shelter when it rains. You
must also have a kraal or yard in each paddock, where you can drive the
birds whenever you want to select some of them for cutting their
feathers. It is proper to say, however, that a kraal in each paddock is
not necessary, as all that work can be done at the home station, where
you have the buildings for artificial hatching and for gathering the
feathers."

Ned asked what kind of ground was best suited for the ostrich.

"You must have ground where the soil and plants are rich in alkalies,"
replied Mr. Shaffner, "and when this is not the case, care must be taken
to supply the needful element. Before this matter was understood there
was some melancholy failures in the business. A friend of mine started
an ostrich farm on a sandstone ridge. There was no limestone on the
farm, and most of the birds died in a few months, and those that lived
laid no eggs and produced very few feathers. Limestone was carted to the
farm from a considerable distance, and the birds would not touch it.
Bones were then tried and with admirable effect. What the birds required
was phosphate of lime, and the bones gave them that. They rushed at them
with great eagerness, and as soon as they were well supplied with bones
they began to improve in health and to lay eggs. On farms like the one I
mentioned, a quarter of a pound of sulphur and some salt is mixed with
two buckets of pulverized bones, and the