LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 



U. S. Department of Agriculture, 



Biological Survey, 

 Washington, D. C, Oct. 4, 1910. 

 Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith, as Bulletin No. 36 of 

 the Biological Survey, the results of an investigation by David E. 

 Lantz concerning the practicability and desirability of raising deer 

 and other large game animals in the United States. 



In most parts of the county the number of game animals is 

 steadily diminishing and game for table use has already become a 

 high-priced luxury. Experiments have shown that some species, 

 especially of the deer family, can be brought to a state of semidomes- 

 tication with comparative ease and can be bred and raised at very 

 small cost. The chief purpose of the present bulletin is to call atten- 

 tion to the importance of raising elk and deer for venison, to indicate 

 the particular species most readily reared in preserves, and to empha- 

 size the importance of so modifying state game laws as to encourage 

 the use of private effort and capital in making a marketable com- 

 modity of venison and placing it within the reach of people of mod- 

 erate means. Since the distribution in 1908 of our earlier publica- 

 tion on Deer Farming (Farmers' Bulletin 330) several States have 

 changed their game laws in the interest of this industry, and as its 

 importance becomes known others are sure to follow. 



Attention is again directed to the fact that in many parts of the 

 country there are tracts of land of little or no value for agricultural 

 purposes which can be more profitably used for raising venison than 

 for any other purpose. 



Respectfully, Henry W. Henshaw, 



Chief, Biological Survey. 

 Hon. James AVilson, 



Secretary of Agriculture. 



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