182 



THE GAME BREEDER 



cause the inhabitants are interested in 

 watching the transformation of the candy 

 shop. 



We were told that a few hundred 

 game laws were repealed, at one fell 

 swoop, a few years ago, in Maine, but 

 it seems likely the books will soon be 

 filled up again. How would it do for 

 the Maine people to give some attention 

 to game breeding? It would be an easy 

 matter to produce an abundance of game 

 for the people to eat. The food will be 

 found cheaper than game laws, which 

 really appear to be quite expensive when 

 the printing, salaries, etc., are taken into 

 account. We would suggest that the 

 Maine sportsmen and legislators study 

 the Massachusetts game breeders' law. 

 Hundreds of citizens in Massachusetts 

 now produce game profitably without 

 fear of the police. 



Maine Breeders' Bill. 



The following proposed law for Maine 

 is from Maine Woods: 



Chick of Kennebec — Act amending Section 

 5 of Chapter 33 of the Revised Statues so that 

 the commissioners of inland fisheries and 

 game may issue permits to any person, firm or 

 corporation to engage in propagating birds, 

 game or fur-bearing animals, under regulations 

 prescribed by the commission. It is made legal 

 to fence in land of not more than 25 acres, 

 and an annual fee of $10 is to be paid. 



Why charge $10 for the right to pro- 

 duce food on a farm? Massachusetts 

 charges nothing for a license to produce 

 any species of game, and the law is pop- 

 ular. Vermont charges $2.00, which is 

 $2.00 too much. New York charges $5.00, 

 which is $5.00 too much. If it is desir- 

 able to permit the people to produce game 

 by industry, such industry should not be 

 penalized. Ohio charges 50 cents. This 

 might be regarded as a fair charge for 

 a permit, so long as permits are deemed 

 necessary. 



The idea of regulating the size of the 

 pasture is probably the most original ab- 

 surdity of all the many novelties which 

 have appeared in game breeders' enact- 

 ments, with the exception of the "other- 

 wise than by shooting" nonsense, which 

 required duck breeders to kill their wild 

 ducks with the hatchet. This was in the 

 law books of New York for a year. 



Why should a deer farmer or a pheas- 

 ant or duck farmer be required to use 

 only part of his land for food produc- 

 tion when it is well known that game on 

 small areas is subject to diseases? 



Why not entitle the act, an act to 

 encourage diseases among deer and game 

 birds? 



The Game and The Farmer. 



Under the heading, "Farmer's Talk 

 to Farmers," the Norwich (Connecticut) 

 Bulletin publishes a long article about 

 the "Deer Question and the Farmer." 

 The writer denounces the game laws in 

 general and objects "as emphatically as 

 I know how to having my farm made a 

 breeding place and protected compound 

 for rabbits and deer ; against being com- 

 pelled to feed them for a long 'closed 

 season,' and then have my fields roamed 

 over and my fences broken down and my 

 gates left open by a horde of so-called 

 hunters from some other part of the 

 country in the 'open season.' " 



Deer Farming. 



The farmer, above quoted, seems to 

 be entirely unaware that game farming 

 recently has been made a legal industry 

 in Connecticut. In other states many men, 

 women and boys now breed game profit- 

 ably. Deer are easily reared in enclos- 

 ures and many ruffed grouse, quail nd 

 pheasant can be bred for sport and for 

 profit on the same ground. Many 

 marshy places and small ponds are now 

 us6d for wild duck breeding, and the 

 ducks will stay home and produce plenty 

 of eggs if they be properly looked after. 

 We suggest that the Norwich Bulletin 

 might tell the farmers what they can do 

 under game breeders' laws. The Game 

 Breeder will tell them how to do it. 



Brer Rabbit. 



The Connecticut farmer says farther 

 *Tf there is any animal pest which de- 

 serves protection less than another, it is 

 the common cotton-tail rabbit — the bean- 

 eating, cabbage-destroying, corn-nibbling, 

 tree-barking rabbit. It would be quite 

 as sensible to 'protect' the mosquito or 

 the bald-faced hornet. No doubt they 



