THE GAME BREEDER 



143 



fill the order next year. Others reported 

 good sales but said they could procure 

 the deer later or would have them for 

 sale next year. 



The Biological Survey reported that 

 they had not kept up a list of deer breed- 

 ers and could not suggest any one who 

 could fill our order. 



We are glad to know that the deer 

 breeding industry is booming and that 

 the breeders have demands for all the 

 deer they produce. There is much land 

 suitable for deer farming that can be 

 made profitable and we hope the number 

 of deer farms quickly will be increased 

 so that all who want deer for sport or 

 for profit can procure breeding stock. 

 Much venison is now sold in the markets 

 in States which have intelligent game 

 officers and the markets everywhere 

 should be full of this desirable food dur- 

 ing long open seasons. 



We shall be obliged to all those who 

 have deer if they will send a letter stat- 

 ing how many they have. Our card 

 indexes of big game breeders are not as 

 complete as we wish to have them. 

 Among the thousands of breeders who 

 own game and who read The Game 

 Breeder there undoubtedly are some who 

 have deer who are not listed as big game 

 breeders. 



Scarcity of Grasshoppers. 



Several game farmers report a scarcity 

 of grasshoppers this season. On places 

 where large numbers of game birds are 

 produced year after year it seems natural 

 that grasshoppers and all insects eaten by 

 game birds should become scarce. It is 

 desirable to rear in new fields the second 

 or third season, where the place is a large 

 one, and a return can be made to the old 

 fields after the insects have increased in 

 numbers. 



Those who say shooting should be 

 prohibited for terms of years or for ever 

 because game birds eat insects should 

 visit" some of the places where shooting 

 is lively during long open seasons and 

 where the game remains so plentiful that 

 often there are not enough insects to go 

 round. 



Why enact laws preventing an industry 



which produces the results desired ? The 

 game birds are too scarce in places where 

 shooting is prohibited to have any appre- 

 ciable effect on the insects. 



High Prices. 



The high prices for all foods have had 

 a tendency to send up the prices of 

 live game for breeding purposes. Pres- 

 ent indications are that live pheasants, 

 wild ducks, quail, grouse and all the other 

 game birds will bring much higher prices 

 this year and, as the breeding season ap- 

 proaches, next year, than ever before. 

 The prices of game in the hotels and res- 

 taurants last year w r ere high but what 

 they will be next fall and winter we 

 would hardly like to predict. They surely 

 will be well up. 



One reason for the high prices is that 

 many members of the Game Conserva- 

 tion Society have entered the service 

 and will not breed any game for sport 

 this year. Some of the places are kept 

 running in order to provide work for the 

 keepers, some report that they only sell 

 eggs and will not rear any birds until 

 after the war. Many who have been re- 

 jected for military duty regard game 

 breeding and the sale of the highly de- 

 sirable food as a patriotic duty and quite 

 as important as fish breeding and war 

 gardens are at this time. 



The Long Island Game Breeding As- 

 sociation and the experiment stations of 

 the Game Conservation Society will pro- 

 duce some game, as much as possible 

 considering the late starts which were 

 made and the difficulty of getting prairie 

 grouse and eggs for two of the places 

 where experimental work is carried on. 

 The scarcity of deer is referred to else- 

 where. We found it impossible to get 

 one or two carloads from any of the 

 deer farms. 



After the War. 



It is quite evident that when the war 

 is ended game breeding in America will 

 have a boom. In all probability the big 

 game farms which have been started in 

 the Far West will (as one of their own- 

 ers wrote to The Game Breeder) make 

 it no longer necessary to purchase pheas- 



