THE GAME BREEDER 



113 



Coops in which Chinese Pheasant Eggs are Hatched. Penitentiary Watch Tower in thedistance. 



WASHINGTON'S GAME-BIRD AND HUMANE FARM. 



By Carl W. Gross. 



The State of Washington is pioneer- 

 ing and setting an example for the rest 

 of the states, as well as the world, in the 

 establishment of her state game farm. 

 She is doing more than this. She is es- 

 tablishing a humane farm, because at 

 the same time she is giving her convicts 

 a chance to show their honor and teach- 

 ing them a valuable profession. The ex- 

 periment is proving profitable to Wash- 

 ington. Yes, sir ; the idea of having the 

 "honor" men at the state penitentiary 

 at Walla Walla, help replenish the fields 

 with game birds that were once abund- 

 ant has turned out to be a grand one 

 from every respect. 



Since the State of Washington has 

 in the past spent between $30,000 and 

 $60,000 per year purchasing game birds 

 from other states and foreign countries 

 to help stock-up her vanishing supply, 

 the State Game Warden, L. H. Darwin, 

 asked the 1915 legislature to appro- 

 priate $20,000 for a state game farm. 

 But the legislature did not appropriate 



the $20,000, and since the European war 

 stopped the importation of many species, 

 a game farm became more of a neces- 

 sity each day. One day J. H. Pedigo, 

 chairman of the game commission of 

 Walla Walla County, where the peni- 

 tentiary is situated, suggested to the 

 State Game Warden that he should en- 

 deavor to have the convicts raise the 

 birds, as next- to the penitentiary were 

 many acres of available land. Since 

 from a climatic standpoint the location 

 seemed a supreme one, the idea struck 

 Mr. Darwin as ideal. Immediately he 

 planned his campaign. Since he could 

 not get the money from the legislature, 

 he asked the co-operation of the different 

 county game wardens and almost every 

 county responded with the understand- 

 ing that the product of the farm would 

 be distributed pro ratio to the contribu- 

 tion of each county. 



Mr. Darwin then put up the proposi- 

 tion of having the prisoners raise the 

 birds to W^arden Drum of the peniten- 



