THE GAME BREEDER 



59 



NOTES FROM GAME FARMS AND PRESERVES. 



Tobacco Stems for Nests. 



Many squab breeders use tobacco 

 stems for nesting material. Mr. Willis 

 E. Nowell, in the Squab Magazine, says : 

 "I use tobacco stems for nesting ma- 

 terial and find that after the birds have 

 once used the stems they lose their strong 

 smell and are very little good as far as 

 keeping lice away goes. So after the 

 stems have been used once, I make a 

 small pile of them and spray them with 

 a good lice killer, and keep turning them 

 over till they are wet all over, then dry. 

 When dry they are as good as ever. 

 They can be sprayed and used several 

 times and still be the dread of lice." 



We have never seen tobacco stems 

 used in the nests of game birds, but the 

 foregoing would seem to be a useful hint 

 for game breeders. We shall be glad to 

 hear from any of our readers who have 

 tried tobacco stems or who may try them 

 next spring. Remember always that the 

 notes of personal experiences are the 

 most interesting and valuable material 

 for a trade paper like The Game Breeder. 



Editor Game Breeder: 



In reply to yours of September 29th 

 as to how I feed my deer, I beg to say 

 that they are kept in an enclosure of 

 about 2,500 acres, embracing forest, cul- 

 tivated land, meadows, etc., and upon 

 which the deer find all they want for 

 their maintenance and a variety of food 

 very near resembling what they naturally 

 desire to feed on. In the winter time 

 when the snow is very deep we put out 

 hay and grain, sufficient to keep all the 

 game in the enclosure in good condition. 



I have never noticed any disease 

 among them ; they are very vigorous and 

 strong, and those that I have shot, so far, 

 were sound and in good condition. 



For the purpose of keeping the blood 

 in good condition, every few years I 

 manage to acquire some new bucks raised 

 in some other State, which so far seems 

 to have answered the purpose, and my 

 preserve is about twenty years old. 



C. F. Dieterich. 



New York. 



Feeding Young Quail. 



By John C. Phillips. 



We feed our young quail : 



First Week — Custard and Spratt's 

 pheasant meal. Boil the custard until it 

 is thoroughly set; also steam the pheas- 

 ant meal for half an hour. Chop the 

 custard very fine and mix with the 

 pheasant meal. Feed this mixture four 

 times a day in very small amounts. 



Second Week — Hard boiled eggs and 

 steamed pheasant meal. 



Third Week — Hard boiled eggs, 

 pheasant meal and Sprat's chick grain. 

 The pheasant meal and chick grain are 

 mixed before steaming. The food is 

 fed until the birds are ten weeks old. I 

 then start hard food. Wheat, buckwheat, 

 kaffir corn, fine cracked corn and Spratt's 

 chick grain. We keep the quail in the 

 small guards for a few days only, de- 

 pending on the weather; then let bantam 

 and quail out into a circular run sur- 

 rounded by 18-inch cellar wire, the 

 larger the better. After a week or ten 

 days of this we take up the wire and 

 give them free range. 



We shut the young birds in the coops 

 as long as they come in of themselves, 

 but do not bother with them after that. 

 I think it is just as well not to leave the 

 bantam with them too long as they keep 

 too tame and are more liable to attacks 

 from hawks and cats. 



Conservation and the Constitution. 



One of our readers asks if the circular 

 opposing the 'proposed constitution for 

 New York, issued by the N. Y. State 

 League, is purely a matter of political 

 "bunk." 



Since the convention which framed the 

 constitution was Republican and the 

 league, although non-partisan, is we be- 

 lieve largely Republican, we should say 

 the opposition is not political. We have 

 always believed the league to be sincere 

 in its efforts. It certainly is composed 

 of good and sincere men and has good 

 officers. It endorsed, if we remember 

 rightly, the law permitting the sale of 

 trout by breeders before it was enacted. 



