28 Game Survey of the North Central States 



Phil M. Smith took over the management of his 280-acre farm near Wil- 

 liamsburg in 1923, soon after graduating from the Missouri Agricultural College. 

 At that time the farm was about half timbered and practically ungraded. It had 

 been devoted primarily to the production of grain, and was considered a "run 

 down" place. 



During the last seven years Mr. Smith has been rebuilding the farm to fit 

 the standards of modern agriculture. He has de-brushed the fence "rows, cleared 

 out and filled in the gullies, removed the osage hedges, and is converting the 

 brushy woodland to pasture. 



The livestock on the farm has been largely increased in order to consume 

 the vegetable products on the ground. Rotation of crops and other measures for 

 the conservation of soil fertility have been put into effect. Mr. Smith's technical 

 education has probably enabled him to convert the findings of modern agricultural 

 research to actual practice in about the way the college would like to have it done 

 everywhere. 



Incidentally he is also a keen and lifelong sportsman, with a special interest 

 in quail. This enables him to remember with substantial accuracy the complete 

 recent quail history of his farm. 



The farm began with about 210 quail in 1923, and now has about 90. All 

 of the hunting has been done either by Mr. Smith himself, or under his direct 

 observation. The quail stock was probably somewhat over-shot, but since much 

 open territory in Missouri is shot even harder and still maintains its birds, the 

 decline in numbers of quail on the Smith farm is in my opinion the effect of the 

 physical changes brought about by agricultural improvement. The history of 

 these improvements and the decline in quail are summarized on Map 4, including 

 the graph at the bottom, and in Table 3. 



It is clear that the quail declined while the farm was being improved. This 

 of course does not conclusively prove that the decline was caused by the improve- 

 ments. The proof would be stronger if there had been no shooting, or very light 

 shooting. The fact, however, that these two concurrent tendencies appear on 

 thousands of similar farms throughout the cornbelt, both shot and unshot, is to all 

 practical intents and purposes evidence of a cause-and-effect relationship. 



An examination of Table 3 shows that no increase of cultivated acreage has 

 been gained during the process of improvement, although there has been a large 

 increase in the acreage of pasture. There has undoubtedly been a large increase 

 in the sale value of the farm, due to the enhanced working capital of livestock, 

 fertility, and pasture area. 



The Question is, however, whether this enhanced value of the farm as a pro- 

 ductive agricultural unit could not have been attained without so heavy a sacrifice 

 of its game-producing capacity. 



There can be no absolute yes or no answer to this question. The answer is a 

 matter of degree. 



