THE GAME BREEDER 



191 



them moist and cool until wanted for 

 planting, as directed for wild rice. If 

 they must be kept for some time, put 

 them in open vessels of water in cold 

 storage. 



Where to plant. — Wild celery grows 

 best on muddy bottoms in from 3^^ to 

 6^2 feet of fresh water, though it will 

 grow also in sand and in both deeper and 

 shallower water. A sluggish current 

 suits it better than either stagnant or 

 rapid water. 



How to plant. — For sowing, the pods 

 should be broken up (in water) into 

 pieces iabout half an inch in length, which 

 may be sown broadcast — not too thickly, 

 as the plant spreads rapidly by rootstocks 



and will scon make a dense growth. The 

 winter buds or pieces of roots with 

 tufts of leaves must be weighted to hold 

 them to the bottom and enable them to 

 take root. This may be accomplished by 

 loosely threading several plants together 

 and tying stones to them, or by embed- 

 ding them in balls of clay. The broken 

 seed pods also may be put into clay and 

 dropped. 



When to plant. — Where they are not 

 likely to be covered by mud, the best 

 time to sow the seed pods is in the fall. 

 Winter buds collected in the fall should 

 be kept in cold storage, and these, as 

 well as young plants gathered in the 

 spring, should be set out in May or June. 



NOTES FROM THE GAME FARMS AND PRESERVES. 



By Our Readers. 



Prize Quail. 



Editor Game Breeder: 



The quail you sent me as a prize are 

 doing fine. I was afraid, at first, they 

 might be Southern birds and would not 

 stand this climate. But they just seem 

 to enjoy the cold weather. 



They were wild at first but they will 

 come out of their coop now and eat 

 while I feed them. 



Iowa. W. R. Hind. 



[The birds shipped are Mexican juail. They 

 were imported by Mackensen, of Yadley, 

 Pennsylvania. We have introduced these 

 southern birds in fair numbers as far north 

 as New York and we found they did not suf- 

 fer from climate. They bred nicely the first 

 year. Some of the coveys were quite large 

 and they afforded good shooting. We have 

 been informed that the southern birds breed 

 with their northern relatives and that the re- 

 sult is a gain in the size of the birds. We 

 hope there will be many experiments by breed- 

 ers this year in crossing the Mexican quail 

 with the larger northern birds, and that rec- 

 ords of the weight of the parent birds and the 

 full grown young may be kept and published. 

 It is high time for the quail breeders to breed 

 quail abundantly and owning their birds they 

 should be exempt from all "fool laws."— 

 Editor.] 



Peculiar Cause of Turkey's Death. 



By H. C. Brown. 



Mrs. H. E. Winterink, of Charles 

 City, Iowa, recently lost a splendid tur- 

 key through an unusual cause. The tur- 

 key had only recently been received, and 

 was so wild that it refused to stay with 

 the others to get its food. On the con- 

 trary, it went to the woods nearby, and 

 was very wild for a few days. One day, 

 however, it didn't seem to be in its usual 

 health, and a bunch was observed in its 

 neck. A few days later, the turkey died ; 

 and upon examination it was found that 

 the bunch consisted of four burrs of 

 burdock, matted together, which had 

 lodged in the crop, and prevented the 

 passage of food. The turkey had evi- 

 dently been starved to eating burrs, be- 

 cause of its fear. 



Foster Mothers. 



Editor Game Breeder; 



I notice that a number of the game breeders 

 and game keepers use Rhode Island Reds for 

 foster mothers in raising pheasants whereas 

 in California the Japanese Silkies are used 



