10 



THE GAME BREEDER 



strange that we should fail in this coun- 

 try at the beginning. People point to 

 the fact that in England, Scotland, and 

 on the continent thousands of native wild 

 birds are raised annually, but they do not 

 stop to consider that they are raised by 

 gamekeepers, father and son having been 

 engaged in this occupation for genera- 

 tions. They have learned the secrets of 

 the trade, while in this country we have 

 given little thought to the matter. 



"It is quite likely that the association 

 will procure an expert gamekeeper from 

 Scotland to take charge of rearing up- 

 land birds. The foreign gamekeepers in 

 this country have been very generally 

 successful. Undoubtedly they will teach 

 their profession to Americans, and will 

 thus start a line of gamekeepers in this 

 country." 



In announcing that the birds will be 

 distributed for stocking purposes, the as- 

 sociation urges the establishment of 

 game refuges all over the country, with 



the prediction that these will improve 

 the shooting in the surrounding country. 



"If the birds have a place where they 

 can raise their young in security and 

 where the coveys will not be reduced to 

 one or two each Fall, they will increase 

 so rapidly that they are bound to over- 

 flow into the surrounding territory. 



"The Massachusetts farm has been 

 taken on a ten years' lease, with an op- 

 tion to buy for the original price of 

 $13,000 any time during that period. The 

 land, which is worth many times this 

 amount, was purchased by disinterested 

 sportsmen, each putting in about $i,OQO 

 on condition that no shooting be allowed 

 upon it. These men have very kindly 

 turned it over to the National Associa- 

 tion. 



"The only restrictions attached are 

 that it shall continue to be a sanctuary 

 for twenty years after the date of the 

 lease, whether or not it is purchased. It 

 is also stipulated that at least $500 a 

 year must be spent in reforestation." 



FISH FOOD AND FISH CULTURE 



By A. A. Hill 



In mentioning the undoubted fact that 

 every healthy boy, right-minded man, 

 and uncaged woman, likes to go a-fish- 

 ing, David Starr Jordan says: "That is 

 what fishes are for." 



Not altogether so. Fishes are for 

 food. Moreover, taking second place to 

 no one in a love of the streams and lakes 

 and their inhabitants, the oft-repeated 

 remark that it does not matter much 

 what fish are in them, or whether we 

 succeed in catching them, is nonsense. It 

 makes all the difference in the world 

 how many fish are in the waters, what 

 kind of fish are in them and it is still 

 more important that we should succeed 

 in catching them. 



Next to mammals and birds, fish is the 

 most important food in the world and 

 has always been so. Cost of production 

 considered, fish is the cheapest of foods 

 as well as among the very best that 

 comes to the table. In every country on 



earth — half-civilized, civilized and en- 

 lightened — but this one, its inland waters 

 are considered the source of its most 

 valuable food asset. In this country this 

 asset has simply been thrown away. 

 With the widest range of inland waters 

 of any country on earth for the habitat 

 of different kinds of food fish, we have 

 for the past one hundred years been 

 steadily depleting them, and during the 

 past fifty years their depletion has kept 

 pace with the repletion of fish laws. 



The reason for it? Why, simply be- 

 cause of the prevalent pernicious notion 

 that fish are for sport rather than for 

 food ; because of the David Starr Jordan 

 idea just quoted, if you please. 



It will be the object of one department 

 of "The Game Breeder" to show the 

 importance of fish culture and how to 

 breed fish successfully and profitably. 

 Have as much pleasure catching fish as 

 you may, and it is indeed a glorious 



