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THE GAME BREEDER 



T^ e Game Breeder 



Published Monthly 



Edited by DWIGHT W. HUNTINGTON 



NEW YORK, JULY, 1916. 



TERMS: 



10 Cents a Copy — $1.00 a year in Advance. 



Postage free to all subscribers in the United States. 

 To All Foreign Countries and Canada, f 1.25. 



The Game Conservation Society, Inc. 

 publishers, 150 nassau st., new york 



D. W. Huntington, President, 



F. R. Peixotto, Treasurer,. 



J. C. Huntington, Secretary. 

 Telephone, Beekman 3685. 



THE IMPORTANT SAGO. 



When the editor of The Game Breeder 

 was engaged in writing the book about 

 wild duck breeding, "Our Wild Fowl 

 and Waders," he asked a distinguished 

 ornithologist to write a chapter about the 

 natural foods of wild ducks. The re- 

 quest was declined for the reason given 

 that the naturalist did not feel qualified 

 to handle the subject. He added that 

 he had doubts if anyone in America was 

 equipped to fill the order for a compre- 

 hensive chapter on wild duck foods. 



Mr. Jasper B. White, of Waterlilly, 

 North Carolina, and Mr. Clyde B. Ter- 

 rell, of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, had begun 

 to sell wild celery and wild rice, and the 

 late Dr. R. V. Pierce, the owner of the 

 big preserve, St. Vincents Island, Flor- 

 ida, had introduced the fox-tail grass or 

 sago pond weed with great success and 

 wrote a letter to the editor about this 

 food which was quoted at length in the 

 book. 



The year after the publication of the 

 book, Mr. W. L, McAtee, of the Biolog- 

 ical Survey, U. S. Department of Agri- 

 culture, wrote the excellent bulletin on 

 "Three Important Wild Duck Foods," a 

 part of which relating to the sago and 

 other pond weeds is printed on-another 

 page. It appears that sago and the 

 others compose a greater percentage of 

 the food of sixteen of the most important 

 species of ducks than wild rice and wild 

 celery together. 



Mr. McAtee says he is indebted to Mr. 

 J. B. White, of Waterlilly, N. C, for the 

 information that he has often trans- 

 planted the sago pond weed about Water- 

 lilly. Dr. Pierce informed the editor that 

 he procured his sago from Mr. White. 

 In his letter, quoted in the book, he said : 

 "My lakes and ponds are now quite well 

 seeded with this plant. I regard the 

 foxtail grass (sago) as one of the most 

 valuable duck foods because it seeds pro- 

 lificacy and, also, produces bulbs which 

 are much sought after by many species 

 of ducks ; in fact, by all species and also 

 by wild geese. Foxtail grass spreads very 

 rapidly. When once produced in a duck 

 preserve, one need have no fear of its 

 ever running out or failing to grow 

 abundantly." 



When Mr. McAtee wrote his import- 

 ant bulletin he observed that "those de- 

 siring to transplant pond weeds must 

 usually go out themselves to gather them, 

 for the usefulness of the plants has not 

 been sufficiently well known to create a 

 trade in them. All this has been changed 

 rapidly since Dr. Pierce praised sago in 

 the book, "Our Wild Fowl and Waders," 

 and Mr. McAtee pointed out its import- 

 ance in the bulletin. Thousands of dol- 

 lars worth of sago have been sold to the 

 owners of duck preserves within the past 

 few months and the demand for this im- 

 portant food steadily is increasing. Mr. 

 Jasper B. White, who began with a few 

 lines of advertising in The Game Breeder 

 increased the space to a quarter page and 

 in this issue has a full page devoted to 

 the offering of sago and other important 

 wild duck foods. 



Mr. McAtee performed a great public 

 service when he wrote the bulletin about 

 the sago pond weeds, the wild celery and 

 the other plants which are eaten by wild 

 fowl. 



IOWA. 





Mr. E. C. Hinshaw, the State Fish and 

 Game Warden of Iowa, is entitled to 

 great credit for the advanced position the 

 State has taken in the matter of conserv- 

 ing its game. Iowa once had an abund- 

 ance of prairie grouse, quail, wild fowl 

 and other game and- many residents of 

 the State can recall the time when they 

 could have game to eat. In no State 



