THE GAME BREEDER 



117 



tags, properly provided for by the New 

 York legislature, will reduce the cost of 

 trout in the New York markets or it 

 may increase the profits of the breeders 

 "because there are not enough trout to 

 fully supply the demand. It seems likely 

 the prices will remain up for a year or 

 two since the demand is increasing. 



A number of new bass breeders have 

 started breeding black bass and these, 

 like the trout breeders, find the industry 

 profitable, without advertising. We often 

 have requests for both trout and bass 

 and we hope it will not be long before 

 the number of breeders is large enough 

 to supply the demand for these desirable 

 fish and that the breeders will let our 

 readers know that they have fish to sell. 



Many elk and deer breeders who have 

 these animals to sell complain that they 

 cannot sell the meat they produce in the 

 best market. Much venison is imported 

 from foreign countries and it is absurd 

 to prevent American deer farmers from 

 selling in the best market and to compel 

 the people to send their money abroad. 



Towards the end of the season the 

 prices for pheasant and ducks eggs went 

 up instead of down. A few breeders 

 who sold their eggs for fifteen and twen- 

 ty dollars per hundred easily could have 

 obtained twenty-five and even thirty dol- 

 lars per hundred had they not adver- 

 tised them at lower prices. Some of the 

 largest breeders quickly sold all the eggs 

 they could supply and we heard of good 

 sized checks being returned because the 

 orders for eggs could not be filled. Many 

 pheasant eggs were sold as late as June 

 at $25 per hundred. We predict that 

 although hundreds of thousands more 

 €ggs will be offered next season the prices 

 will remain up. 



A number of the State game officers 

 have been urging the people to have pri- 

 vate fish ponds and to breed all species 

 of fish food in suitable waters. Many 

 private fish ponds have been stocked. 

 Wild ducks are as easily handled as fish 

 are and they have been found to be in- 

 teresting and profitable. The State game 

 officers should issue bulletins telling the 



people how to breed wild fowl on small 

 waters. 



The Spratts Patent Limited, the Amer- 

 ican dealers in game foods, have report- 

 ed to the Game Conservation Society 

 that their sales of wild duck foods have 

 largely increased, indicating that the new 

 industry is growing rapidly. It is only a 

 few years since it became known in Eng- 

 land that by using the proper foods it 

 was an easy matter to rear wild ducks. 

 The Spratts have sent us the names of a 

 number of game keepers for whom we 

 secured employment. 



Dutchess Co., N. Y. Pheasants. 



• 



A Game Census. 



The Game Breeder wishes to obtain 

 detailed information about the number 

 of deer and other game mammals and 

 about the wild turkeys, quail, grouse, 

 pheasants, wild fowl and other game 

 birds owned by game breeders in the 

 United States and Canada. The census 

 of deer and elk in game farms, parks and 

 preserves and the census of wild tur- 

 keys, pheasants, wild ducks, and other 

 hand-reared game birds can be made very 

 accurately; the census of quail, grouse, 

 and other birds, and deer and other 

 mammals, reared by breeders in a wild 

 state on game farms and preserves can 

 be made fairly accurately. 



One of our readers, for example, 

 writes that he had at the end of the 

 shooting season, one hundred and forty- 

 three covies of quail vnthin the limits of 

 his grounds ; that the average number 

 (^Contivued on pn^e i2r.) 



