72 



THE GAME BREEDER 



made more profitable than it can be 

 made in Minnesota. The best place to 

 breed any kind of game is the place 

 where it now breeds or where it former- 

 ly did abundantly. 



It has been proved that wild ducks can 

 be wintered safely and at no great ex- 

 pense by providing simple winter quar- 

 ters for the birds during two or three 

 months in the winter. During the rest 

 of the year if the ground included in the 

 game farm or preserve contains natural 

 foods the ducks will require very little 

 artificial feeding, far less than poultry 

 requires. 



A little corn .fed once a day or even 

 every few days will hold the ducks and 

 they can be fed both summer and win- 

 ter on some less expensive foods part of 

 the time. Turnips, potatoes, apples and 

 other fruit which are not suitable for the 

 market are suitable duck food, and in 

 fact the ducks will eat almost any vege- 

 tables and fruits and acorns and other 

 waste of all kinds. 



The common mallards sell readily at 

 $3 and $4 per pair and other species 

 bring much better prices, some as much 

 as $10 and $15 per pair. When the 

 ducks are trapped and wing clipped 

 they can be induced to lay their eggs 

 in wire inclosures where easily they 

 are gathered and the ducks persist 

 in laying when the eggs are gathered 

 daily, so that the breeder can count on 

 marketing two or three dozen eggs from 

 each duck. The eggs of the mallard sell 

 readily in large lots at $20 and $25 per 

 hundred. The eggs of teal, wood-duck, 

 gadwalls and other shoal water ducks 

 sell for at least one-third more. The 

 eggs of red-heads and canvas backs sell 

 for $8 and $10 per dozen. 



Wild ducks now are bred successfully 

 and profitably on game farms in New 

 England and as far north as Maine in 

 places where the natural food for ducks 

 is not nearly so good or so abundant 

 as it is in Minnesota. 



Wild ducks and geese are successfully 

 bred in the Dakotas and in Michigan, 

 Wisconsin and other northern states. 



Flocks of wild ducks and geese reared 

 under control but which are permitted to 

 fly about at all seasons (excepting dur- 



ing the breeding season when some birds 

 are clipped in order to make them nest 

 where the eggs can be gathered easily 

 and during two or three months in the 

 winter when they may be housed part 

 of the time) are a beautiful ornament 

 to any farm or country estate and they 

 are the easiest game birds to keep at 

 home and to breed successfully. Under 

 the game breeder laws in many states 

 the ducks can be shot during long open 

 seasons and they will provide a highly 

 desirable food for the table and excel- 

 lent shooting for those who enjoy field 

 sports. We have enthusiastic letters 

 from those who are engaged in the new 

 industry and there can be no doubt about 

 its being made profitable as well as en- 

 tertaining in Minnesota. 



An advertisement in the Game Breed- 

 er will surely sell all the birds and eggs 

 which the owner may wish to sell. A 

 country hotel owner or a farmer who 

 will produce a good lot of ducks for 

 sport surely will have all the customers 

 he may wish to entertain at attractive 

 prices. In the older countries many ru- 

 ral hotels conduct game preserves for 

 their patrons. In some places in Amer- 

 ica game-shooting clubs make such ho- 

 tels their headquarters and look after the 

 game preserving, employing the game- 

 keeper and breeding the game on lands 

 purchased or rented for the purpose. 



It always has seemed strange to us 

 that in a big country like America the 

 people who are said to own the game 

 cannot have any to eat, while in coun- 

 tries which have common sense laws the 

 market gunners bring in the game to 

 the markets just as our fishermen bring 

 in the fish. All broad guage, fair-minded 

 men will agree that if any errors are 

 made in the distribution they should be 

 "in the direction of liberality," as Owen 

 Jones said when giving advice about sup- 

 plying rats with rat poison. 



The Game Breeder, an advertiser 

 writes, evidently reaches them all. 



"More Game and Fewer Game Laws" 

 has come to stay. 



