THE GAME BREEDER 



81 



a weight and sinking them to the bottom 

 of the pond. 



Much time and trouble are often re- 

 quired to bring about a profuse growth 

 of aquatic vegetation,* but after a pond 

 is thoroughly stocked even more labor 

 is required to keep it within botinds. 

 Ponds may become Hterally choked with 

 water mosses, resulting in inconvenience 

 to the owner and a detriment to the fish. 

 They will roll the seines, snag the lines, 

 and smother the fish when an attempt is 

 made to draw down the water. It will 

 usually be necessary to thin the moss 

 out once or twice in the course of a 



summer, and all growth should be re- 

 moved when draining the pond. An 

 efficient method of removal is by raking, 

 the worker standing on the embankment 

 and throwing the moss out on land, or 

 wading into the shallow water of the 

 pond and drawing it from a circle about 

 him and building cocks of it. The deep- 

 er waters will have to be worked from a 

 boat or raft. 



*A11 but one of the cuts published herewith 

 are copied from Briton & Brown's "Illustrated 

 Flora of North America." The figure of 

 Chara is taken from the "Text Book of Bot- 

 any," by Strasburger, Noll, Schenk, and 

 Schimper. 



NOTES FROM THE GAME FARMS AND PRESERVES. 



The Game Market. 



The largest New York dealers in dead 

 game report that they are paying $3.00, 

 $4.00 and $4.50 per pair for pheasants 

 and that there is a good demand for 

 pheasants. 



They also report to The Game Breeder 

 that they are buying wild ducks for $2.50 

 per pair. One dealer says he is getting all 

 the wild ducks he can handle at this 

 price but that he could handle many 

 thousands more at a slightly reduced 

 price. 



Our latest reports of sales of live 

 pheasants are for $4.00 and $5.00 per 

 bird. A few breeders report they have 

 been getting six dollars for hen pheasants. 

 There have been a few pheasants sold 

 as low as $v3.00 per bird, but these, we 

 believe, are late hatched birds and very 

 few have been reported at this price. 



There seems to be plenty of near mal- 

 lards which are selling alive at $2.50 and 

 $3.00 per pair for birds guaranteed strong 

 on the wing and suitable for sport. 

 Straight wild mallards are in demand 

 and are quoted at $4 and $5 per bird. 

 Pure black ducks, guaranteed to lay eggs 

 are in big demand and bring even better 

 prices. Black ducks which are not guar- 

 anteed to lay sell for about the same price 

 as near mallards, $2.50 per pair alive or 

 dead. Wild geese are selling at $5.00 



per bird, much higher prices being asked 



tor. mated pairs which reared broods. 



Our advertisers can supply plenty of 

 stock birds and are always willing to 

 quote prices to intending purchasers. 



Live quail, northern birds, are quoted 

 at $25 to $35 per dozen and these birds 

 seem hard to procure at any price. 



Food Prices. 



Some people complain of the high cost 

 of food for pheasants, wild ducks and 

 other game birds. They should remem- 

 ber that pheasants are selling for nearly 

 twice as much as they did when the prices 

 for food were lower. The advance in the 

 price of the birds keeps the industry still 

 very profitable. Many of our members 

 write that the pheasants are the most 

 profitable live stock on the place. ^ 



Wild Ducks Abundant. 



The wild ducks including "near mal- 

 lards" have become so abundant that the 

 prices have not gone up as the prices of 

 pheasants. But even the "near mallards" 

 which are suitable for sport and for food 

 bring more alive and dead than tame 

 ducks do and there are many places where 

 the food bill can be much reduced by 

 planting pond weeds, wild rice, wild cel- 

 ery and other natural foods. Acorns, 

 also, are excellent food, both for wild 

 ducks and for upland game. At one 



