1909. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1023 
A NEW YORK STATE GAME FARM. 
In the picturesque and fertile Chenango Valley, 
near the village of Sherborne, is located the first and 
only State game farm for the purpose of propagating 
wild fowls, and especially the so-called English peas¬ 
ant. A visit to the farm and a chat with its keeper 
Harry T. Rogers, convinces one that the object and 
purpose of the State in establishing this game farm 
is sure to be realized under the management of Mr. 
Rogers and his estimable helpmate Mrs. Rogers. For 
five years Mr. Rogers was keeper of the Illinois State 
game farm and when California started in the game 
raising business he was asked to take charge of the 
farm, but declined, consenting, however, to furnish 
them specifications for its equipment. The game farm, 
consisting of about 200 acres, is situated about one 
mile northwest of Sherburne village, on the banks of 
the Chenango River, and is a very desirable spot, as 
well as having most natural environment for propa¬ 
gating game birds. About 50 acres of the farm lies 
along the river bottom, and the remainder rises back 
on a gentle slope towards the foothills. New York 
State has a very efficient Fish Forest and Game Com¬ 
missioner in Hon. J. S. Whipple. It was through his 
efforts that an appropriation was obtained from the 
Legislature for the purpose of establishing this farm. 
The farm passed into the possession of the State in 
the late Spring of the present year at a price some¬ 
thing like $7,000, and was immediately put under the 
supervision of the present keeper. The buildings con¬ 
sist of a large commodious home built about 25 years 
ago, a nearly new carriage and horse barn and a large 
barn that will accommodate about 50 head of stocky 
with ample space for hay, grain and other farm pro¬ 
duce. This larger barn Mr. Rogers tells me the 
management intends to convert into a poultry-raising 
plant, as biddy seems to be an important factor in 
propagating the pheasant chicks. The bulk of the 
birds now on the farm were hatched under the com¬ 
mon barnyard hen, who seems to take kindly to her 
new offspring, sitting upon 20 or 30 eggs at one 
■sitting. At the present time about five acres are en¬ 
closed with poultry netting nine feet high, with an 
additional two feet at the bottom of netting of finest 
mesh extending seven inches into the ground, as a pro¬ 
tection against minks, rats, skunks and 
other rodents, as well as the family cat 
and dog that the young birds easily fall a 
prey to.. Inside this enclosed field are 
numerous pens, about 10 x 30 feet, in¬ 
geniously made of poultry netting and 
covered over the top with the same, and 
arranged in rows like village streets. 
The pens are portable, and are moved 
from time to time to guard as far as 
possible against vermin and insect pests. 
In these pens the young birds are kept 
until they get their growth and reach 
maturity or nearly so, when they are 
let out to roam and exercise in the en¬ 
closed five-acre field, one wing being 
clipped to prevent their flying over the 
enclosure when frightened by any 
strange object. The young birds mature 
very quickly, only taking two months to 
reach full maturity. The hen pheasant 
is a very prolific layer, laying about 30 
eggs in her wild state before she sits, 
and about 60 in captivity. It takes 2S 
days for hatching the chicks. The eggs 
have a very thick shell and very thick 
and meaty inside. Mr. Rogers says you 
can toss one up 15 feet high and it will 
strike the ground without breaking. 
There are at the present time about 
600 mature pheasants on the farm of this 
year's raising. Next year Mr. Rogers 
expects to raise 6,000 chicks and produce 
12,000 eggs for shipping to breeders in 
other parts of the State. The price of 
the eggs is $4 for 20 eggs, about what an 
ordinary hen will cover. Flans are now 
on foot to enclose 150 acres of the farm 
for the breeding and raising of wild 
fowl; 500 partridges of our own Ameri¬ 
can type are expected at the farm the 
present month for next season’s breed 
ing, and it is expected that these also 
will be raised in great numbers the coming year. As 
soon as there is a surplus of partridges and pheasants 
beyond the needs of the farm for breeding purposes, 
they are to be sent to responsible people throughout 
the State to be turned loose. The pheasant is much 
more domesticated than most other wild fowl, as they 
build their nests in the open in clumps of brush or tall 
grass, and often very near the farm buildings where 
foxes and other animals are not so apt to prowl, 
while the partridge hikes to the timber in ■secluded 
spots, and only lays eight to 12 eggs, and oftener but 
five or six. About 90 per cent of the pheasant eggs 
prove to be fertile while but 50 per cent of partridge 
eggs are fertile. 
The pheasant is very prolific, more easily raised 
than the ordinary barnyard fowl, and has the instinct 
to shift for himself, and to protect himself from 
danger, cold and hunger, more than any other wild 
or domestic fowl, requiring very little attention after 
fiery red. He has a tail nearly two feet in length 
consisting of but two quills, which he carries straight 
out except when he is pursued or in hiding; then 
they stand straight up. I am told the acquiring and 
maintaining this game farm is without a penny of 
cost to the taxpayer, as the whole amount is taken 
from the fund raised by the gunners’ license of $1 
per year. From the fact that these birds are de¬ 
stroyers of insect pests, and can be raised so easily 
with profit to the farmer, to say nothing of the joys 
of the hunter at having the forest and waste places 
stocked with game, while at the same time, the 
hunter is paying the bills, it does not seem a bad 
idea after all. f. d. squiers. 
R. N.-Y.—In several counties of New York the 
pheasant is denounced as a pest, and many farmers 
are bitter against their introduction. There is sure 
to be considerable opposition to the plan of introducing 
them generally as game birds. 
OAK TREE WITH NATURAL GRAFTING. Fig. 556. 
he is two weeks old. They are not a menace to farm 
crops as many suppose, rarely, if ever, molesting 
growing crops. They are insectivorous birds and 
subsist almost wholly on bugs, worms, ants, and all 
forms of insect life, and seem especially fond of the 
Potato beetle. They are easily domesticated, and on 
the whole it seems they would be a profitable bird 
for the farmer to raise. Mr. Rogers claims a pair 
MORE ABOUT LOCOMOTIVE SPARKS. 
Is it a fact that large coals of fire are ever puffed 
through the screen of a locomotiye? Yes, by not hav¬ 
ing the proper draft appliance applied to the smoke- 
box, or front-end of the engine, or by the screen not 
being the proper mesh, and sometimes the screen is 
inot properly adjusted. Sometimes the smokebox gets 
filled up with live cinders and the screen would be 
burnt out, but it would not be for more than one 
•trip, as on most roads the engines are inspected at 
the ash-pit and the screen would be renewed. But the 
deflector-plate and smoke-box arrangements must also 
be adjusted to suit the proper conditions of firing, 
and dampers must be in good order to act as damp¬ 
ers. I note the size of a piece of coal supposed to 
come from a locomotive alive, on page 702. I do not 
doubt the Jerseyman or his article on page 703; I have 
seen the same and millions of them. About one- 
quarter the size of Fig. 404 should be about what 
ought to come out, and if the engine has the proper 
draft app’iance and properly adjusted the cinders 
would not come out alive, (but they must some out 
somehow). The C. R. R. of N. J. and L. V. R. R. 
run out of Jersey City side by side. Anyone can note 
the difference at night. The Central has 
the proper arrangement of draft appli¬ 
ance to prevent throwing live sparks, 
while the Lehigh has not. This alone 
will prove the answer to your question ; 
that is, I mean it will prove the answer 
I give you. A fireman of to-day has a 
hard life and a hard battle to fight on 
the big engines with poor coal the com¬ 
panies give him, to hold the steam pres¬ 
sure and make his run on time; yet he 
is seldom given credit, and he must be 
a man of iron nerve as well as strength. 
I earnestly hope the public and readers 
will not hold the fireman altogether re¬ 
sponsible for the live sparks that are 
thrown from the smoke-stacks of loco¬ 
motives. R. R. FIREMEN. 
A GROUP OF ENGLISH PHEASANTS. Fig. 557. 
SCENE ON THE NEW YORK GAME FARM. Fig. 558 
of them can be kept a year for less than 50 cents, 
and a pair of the mature birds are worth $2 to $3 in 
market, and prime birds $6 to $9 per trio for breed¬ 
ing purposes. The size of the English ring-neck 
pheasant, the variety raised here, is three to 3*4 pounds 
for the female, and four to five pounds for the male. 
Their plumage is a light brown, with black spot some¬ 
thing like the large hoot owl, except the male birds 
have nearly all the colors of the rainbow on their 
breast, neck and head, with a white ring around the 
lower part of the neck, and the sides of his.head are 
POULTRY AND FRUIT CROPS. 
My advice given on page 863, to the 
man with 13 acres, has been criticised by 
G. T. H. on page 923, as he understood 
it. I should have made it clear that the 
“orchard” which I supposed was on the 
place was an apple orchard, and there . 
is nothing better for an apple orchard 
than hens and chickens. But you cannot 
grow chickens in a peach orchard, let 
alone strawberries. The chickens running 
among the peach trees, make the ground 
too rich in nitrogen, forcing a very tender 
growth of wood, and resulting in 
severe winter-killing. As to the other 
criticism, it is a matter of opinion. 
We get our chickens so far along that 
they need little care other than feeding 
and watering by June i. We sold over 
$200 worth of strawberries this year, 
from the land between two rows of peach 
trees that were well loaded with choice 
fruit at the same time. We raise all the 
corn we can, and a good lot of cabbage 
every year, also turnips and clover. While I have 
read the story of the Indiana strawberry grower’s hard 
luck I have known two. brothers who have sold $i,ooo 
worth of strawberries off one acre, so you can offset 
one story with the other, and you will find that it 
comes down to these three, the man, the market and 
the soil. FLOYD Q. WHITE. 
A child in New Jersey lost its leer in a trolley acci¬ 
dent and a jury gave the parents $8,000 damages. A 
judge calls this excessive, partly because the improve¬ 
ment in artificial limbs makes the loss of a leg less of 
a disaster than formerly. 
