THE GAME BREEDER 



143 



were last season but we also are aware 

 that many new game-shooting clubs have 

 been formed; many owners of country 

 places have decided that it is a good 

 plan to have some game for sport and 

 for food, and hundreds of new breeders, 

 who breed and sell game for propagation 

 purposes, are going into the new indus- 

 try. Although some purchase only a few 

 dozen birds, intending to start in a small 

 way, there are others who have had suf- 

 ficient experience to know that game 

 farming is profitable and who have de- 

 cided they can make more money if they 

 have more stock birds. We advise all 

 purchasers that they can buy more 

 cheaply in September and October than 

 they can later. Many breeders will sell 

 some of their birds (in order to raise 

 a little money) at a lower price than they 

 will expect to get later. As the breeding 

 season again approaches the prices will 

 be twice what they will be in September 

 and we predict the September market 

 will open with the prices well up. 



Those who have their advertisements 

 in early or who keep them standing by 

 the year will surely sell all their birds. 

 A few unwise breeders who did not ad- 

 vertise last season wrote asking if we 

 knew anyone who wanted birds. Our 

 advice in such cases usually is that the 

 improvident sell at a cut price to our 

 advertisers who are equipped to place all 

 the game offered and who should be paid 

 for doing so. 



It would not seem fair and it certainly 

 is not businesslike for the publication to 

 put its time, stationery and postage try- 

 ing to sell birds for people who forget to 

 send early notices that they have birds 

 to sell. 



New Customers. 



The Game Breeder goes to scores of 

 new people each month who write to say 

 they are interested in game breeding 

 either for sport or for profit. 



During the war many people either 

 were abroad or too busy at home to think 

 about creating game farms or preserves. 

 As we expected, there has been a great 

 interest in the new industry since the 



war ended. Returning soldiers have 

 called at the office to subscribe for The 

 Game Breeder and to say that they pro- 

 posed to have some game. There are 

 repeated inquiries from the owners of 

 country places who seem to be aware of 

 the desirability of having "more game 

 and fewer game laws" on the farm. We 

 are especially interested in the projects 

 of sportsmen who drop in to ask advice 

 about the formation of game shooting 

 clubs. ■ All of these must have game to 

 introduce since on many of the farms 

 there is absolutely nothing to shoot. 



Buckwheat. 



It is well known that quail are fond of 

 buckwheat but buckwheat makes a very 

 poor cover and on this account I believe 

 our bobwhite is even more partial to 

 wheat stubbles which often are full of 

 rag-weed and are excellent cover. The 

 seeds of the rag-weed are eaten even 

 more abundantly than the fallen wheat 

 probably because the seeds are more 

 plentiful than the grain. The gray part- 

 ridges of Europe (often called Hun- 

 garian partridges since many of our im- 

 ported birds come from that country) 

 also are fond of buckwheat and since 

 this grain will grow in almost any soil 

 it often is planted for the gray partridges 

 in England. 



Captain Maxwell in his book on the 

 partridges says it is not a bad plan to 

 sow a few strips of Hungarian millet in 

 the same field ; this makes good cover 

 which buckwheat does not. Where spe- 

 cial plantings are made in order to hold 

 the quail evenly distributed it is an ex- 

 cellent plan to plant the strips of buck- 

 wheat and millet adjacent to briar 

 patches where these occur and a very 

 attractive and safe feding ground can be 

 made by planting borders of wild roses 

 and blackberries at the sides of the strips 

 of buckwheat. 



Long Island Quail. 



The quail shooting promises to be ex- 

 cellent on Long Island, New York, not 

 only on the club grounds but every- 



