14 



THE GAME BREEDER 



not much surpass the latitude of the thickly in spring. Once established, the 

 northern boundary of the United States, plant will take care of itself. The nearer 

 From there the plant ranges indefinitely to water it is planted the more available 



to the southward, occurring generally in 

 rich moist soils or swamps at least to 

 Central America. 



PROPAGATION. 



Wild millet is easily cultivated and re- 

 seeds itself. It requires a moist and pre- 

 ferably a rich soil, such as the edge of a 

 marsh or lake, and it will grow in water 

 at least a foot in depth. Break up the 

 soil (mainly for the purpose of discour- 

 aging other plant growth) and sow 



it will be for duck food. It is a splen- 

 did plant to use for low lands that are 

 flooded in winter. 



The seeds are sold by most seedsmen 

 under the name barnyard grass. A va- 

 riety has been widely advertised as Jap- 

 anese barnyard millet or billion-dollar 

 grass. The plant is also known as cock- 

 spur grass and sour grass. It may be 

 cultivated in any part of the United 

 States having the proper soil conditions. 



To be Continued. 



MARKABLE PHEASANT BREEDING. 



An Amateur's Story. 



By Henry B. Bigelow. 



[The following instructive story about pheasant breeding should interest our readers 

 much. The pheasants, reared at a cost of 35 cents each, easily can be sold in the New York 

 market for $2.50 each as soon as the laws are amended to permit the Massachusetts breeders 

 to do what New York breeders are doing— i. e., market the food in the best market. Our 

 shooting readers will be interested in the comment on the pheasant as a sporting bird and the 

 covers where it thrives in Massachusetts. — Editor.] 



My experience with pheasants has been 

 as follows : The matter of chief interest, 

 perhaps, is the cost. In my case there 

 was no question of hiring a game-keeper; 

 the pheasants had to take their chances 

 with the other poultry, and neither I nor 

 my man knew anything about handling 

 them. 



I bought three hens and a cock (Ring- 

 necks) from which I had about 120 eggs; 

 then by purchase and from friends I 

 secured enough more eggs to bring the 

 total to two hundred and twenty-two 

 eggs. These we set under ordinary hens 

 during May and the first part of June. 

 The chicks hatched before June 1 all 

 died of cold; of the others we raised 

 sixty-five to the liberating age, five 

 weeks, i. e., about twenty-five per cent. 

 I have done worse with hens ! 



As to food. I bought Spratts little book 

 on pheasant breeding (25 cents) and 

 followed directions, but our success was 

 due chiefly to insect food. Early in the 

 game, we found that the chicks would eat 



gypsy moth caterpillars and after that 

 we fed them largely with the result that 

 there was practically no death rate, so 

 long as the caterpillars and pupae were 

 available. Incidentally, the chicks cleared 

 the birches in their yard of caterpillars. 



iWhen five weeks old the broods were 

 taken out with their foster mothers to 

 places here and there, the old hens still 

 in their coops. I had supposed we would 

 have to feed the pheasants for some 

 time ; but to my surprise the young birds 

 were self-supporting almost at once, 

 feeding in the rye and asparagus fields. 

 After this they were fed no more, but 

 shifted for themselves. 



The total cost, excluding the price of 

 the stock birds and wire netting, was 

 thirty-five cents per bird liberated; in- 

 cluding these items, about seventy cents. 

 But, of course, I need buy no more stock 

 birds or netting for this year. 



Now that we have our pheasants at 

 liberty, the question is, was it worth 

 while ? This hinges on whether the pheas- 



