116 State Horticultural Society. 



RAISE QUAIL TO KILL INSECTS. 



The pupils of the Peru High School listened recently to a most 

 unusual lecture. Isaac W. Brown, of Rochester, Ind., widely known as 

 the "Bird and Bee Man," talked on "The Quail and Its Habits," and a 

 pair of quails, alive and domesticated, were used as an illustration of 

 the truths imparted by the lecturer. The quail were taken from their 

 cage and placed upon it, where they sat during the lecture. They did 

 not even make an attempt to fly away, and when Mr. Brown whistled 

 "Bob White" they quickly answered his call. The quail were raised by 

 Prof. Andrew J. Redmon, one of the high school instructors, who has 

 one of the largest and best collections of birds in Indiana. 



"I am the happiest man in Indiana today," said the lecturer, because 

 I am standing in the presence of a pair of birds that have been domesti- 

 cated. This is absolute proof that the quail can be semi-domesticated and 

 put to good use. We don't want them domesticated, because then they 

 will remain about our homes and will not go into the fields and rid us 

 of the insects, like the Hessian fly, which ruin our wheat crops almost 

 every year. 



"If the farmer would domesticate the quail we would not have to 

 spray our orchards when they are in bloom in order to raise a crop of 

 fine fruit. Quail would eat and drive awav the insects. From observa- 

 tion I have learned that a quail will eat an insect every minute^ of the 

 day. Take ten hours of the day and you'll find that one quail will get 

 away with 660 insects. Usually there are twenty-five quails in a covey, 

 and they would eat 15,000 insects a day. At this rate, with two or three 

 coveys on each farm, it would not take long to rid the fields of the insects 

 and insure us a good crop of grain. 



"Then in the fall what a happy and profitable pastime it would be 

 to go quail netting, just as the English do fox hunting. The nets we 

 once used were fifteen feet long, with one end and both sides open. On 

 a wet day quails do not move about unless they are compelled to seek 

 a place of safety. Whenever they roam about the mother goes first, 

 while the young follow after her. The father remains in the rear look- 

 ing for danger. One signal from him and the covey hides. 



"The quails, after they are caught in the fall, could be held in cap- 

 tivity until spring to keep them from, starving and freezing to death. 

 Then, when spring comes they should be turned loose again to roam 

 about the fields, to eat the insects and to whistle 'Bob White,' which 



