10 



THE GAME BREEDER 



cents a piece. Today you can get 

 75 cents each for all the quail you can 

 deliver. I say 75 cents well advisedly, 

 for I am getting 83 cents per bird for 

 all the Gambel and Scaled quail I can 

 spare. During the season 1917-18 we 

 shipped about two thousand quail out of 

 five thousand trapped. These were all 

 sold at 50 cents per bird to breeders in 

 the Northern States, and they were beg- 

 ging for more at this price. This, of 

 course, is only one instance. Now there 

 are your pheasants bringing from $2.50 

 to $5 per bird, your wild ducks, geese 

 and turkey proportionately high, and the 

 constant demand from private preserves 

 for breeding stock and from game deal- 

 ers for the culls. 



A beginner in game farming should 

 not worry as to the market, but, on the 

 contrary, he should do considerable 

 worrying as to his start in the business. 

 Before taking any step whatsoever, even 

 before purchasing land for a game farm, 

 I would first obtain information and ad- 

 vice from all possible sources ; that is, 

 from professional game breeders, pri- 

 vate game preserve owners, game com- 

 missioners, the U. S. Biological Survey 

 and the game farm at Cornell Univer- 

 sity. Much valuable information might 

 also be had by applying to such men as 

 T. Gilbert Pearson, E. A. Quarles, Car- 

 los Avery, Dwight Huntington, John B. 

 Burnham, Dr. Palmer, Dr. Hornadyand 

 many other authorities. I consider 

 Quarles on "Pheasants" and Job on 

 "Propagation of Wild Birds" the two 

 best books published on these subjects', 

 and no beginner should be without them. 

 The acreage required for a game farm 

 depends to a great extent upon a man's 

 pocketbook and his ability to carry on 

 the work. Were I starting I would en- 

 deavor to secure a tract of cheap wild 

 land from fifty to one hundred acres, 

 with some timber and undergrowth, and, 

 if possible, bordering a stream, as shade, 

 water and cover are absolutely indis- 

 pensable to a game farm. Of this acre- 

 age I would use a portion to raise grain 

 and alfalfa — the balance to be utilized 

 for pens and run-ways. 

 * Please understand that I have entered 



into these details presuming, of course, 

 that we are endeavoring to induce men 

 to take up commercial game farming and 

 that the prospective game farmer first 

 wants to know where he may readily 

 obtain the practical and technical infor- 

 mation in order that he might make 

 a proper start. In my opinion, the suc- 

 cess or failure of such an enterprise may 

 be made at the very outset, and in order 

 that this work may be started and car- 

 ried on successfully too much stress 

 cannot be given to the fact that the be- 

 ginner must obtain the best possible 

 advice as to the manner of procedure 

 and the species he should endeavor to 

 breed and propagate. 



It might interest you all to know how 

 I have handled the pheasants purchased 

 by my State. There were several hun- 

 dred of these birds purchased during the 

 past year. These were distributed 

 among a large number of reliable farm- 

 ers at no expense to them except the 

 erection of proper pens and coops, with 

 a distinct understanding that all birds 

 raised would be sold to the State when 

 two to three months old at the prevail- 

 ing market price ; the original birds 

 given out remaining the property of the 

 State with the understanding that they 

 may be called for if any fault is found 

 or upon failure of the farmer to carry 

 out his agreement — a contract to this 

 effect having been signed. The plan now 

 seems to be working out very well and 

 we have already liberated quite a num- 

 ber of birds, hatched and raised in our 

 own State. 



As for Gambel and Scaled quail, they 

 are a pest in the farming sections. Last 

 spring they destroyed several hundred 

 acres of young beans in the Rio Grande 

 Valley. They will not bother with any 

 other greenstuffs if . there are beans 

 sprouting out of the ground. Beans 

 appear to be their favorite delicacy. 



Wild ducks are reported very plentiful 

 from all over the State this season. The 

 Bartlett people estimate over 3,500 wild 

 turkeys on their ranch of 300,000 acres. 

 We estimate as many more in the 

 Apache Indian Reservation and sur- 

 i\ unding country ; on account of the 



