April, 1913 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
3 2 7 
Pheasant Raising 
I T is only within recent years that pheas¬ 
ant rearing has been regarded serious¬ 
ly in this country. As early as the begin¬ 
ning of the Nineteenth Century a son-in- 
law of Benjamin Franklin imported a few 
birds and made an effort to establish them 
on his private estate on the Delaware. 
They did not survive the first winter, and 
various attempts made during succeeding 
years to import stock for private pre¬ 
serves met with the same sort of failure 
until the year 1880, when a successful im¬ 
portation was liberated in Oregon. These 
birds immediately throve and increased 
until thousands of them were thoroughly 
established in the State. 
To meet the growing demand for breed¬ 
ing stock many pheasantries were estab¬ 
lished in Oregon, and numerous importa¬ 
tions of stock were made from the Old 
World in an effort to improve the quality. 
Other States began to establish pheas¬ 
antries and conduct experiments, through 
their game officials, private owners of 
parks and game preserves liberated stock 
on their land until thousands of birds were 
scattered throughout the country. Early 
in the nineties, Oregon was shipping thou¬ 
sands of pheasants to market in a single 
month. 
All this has, of course, been the work of 
State officials or private game officials and 
large estates. Recently the work has been 
taken up by boys and girls as a fad or a 
means of making money at home. Sev¬ 
eral women have taken it up as a means 
of livelihood, rearing the birds in confine¬ 
ment and selling their stock, for the most 
part as breeders, and the eggs for hatch¬ 
ing. In a few localities they are trying to 
rear them as market birds. This latter 
branch of the industry is bound to increase 
as the native stock "becomes more hardy 
from generations of acclimated ancestry. 
The varieties best adapted to the United 
States, for commercial purposes, are the 
English pheasant, the ringneck and Eng¬ 
lish ringneck. The latter is a cross be¬ 
tween the two former. 
Autumn is the best time to purchase 
stock, as they should have a chance to be¬ 
come accustomed to their new surround¬ 
ings before mating time, which occurs in 
February, usually. It is better to start 
with mature stock than with eggs, because 
you will have many eggs with which to 
experiment the first year, whereas if you 
bought eggs you would lose all, if you had 
bad luck with your first setting. If you 
buy eggs, order them in late winter to be 
shipped on notice later in spring, when you 
have a hen ready to take them. 
There are many reputable dealers in the 
United States from whom you may obtain 
stock. The prices will vary according to 
the quality of bird you desire. The Eng¬ 
lish ringneck is the cheapest of all, and 
good stock may be obtained at from $5 a 
pair up. The pure-bred English and ring- 
necks will cost from eight to ten dollars a 
pair and upwards, according to breeding. 
The fancy varieties which are kept largely 
for ornament cost about twice as much and 
FOR THE LATE BEGINNER 
By HENRY HUGHES 
The title describes precisely the purpose of this prac¬ 
tical book. The author himself took up the game in 
middle age, and with his experience fresh upon him, 
explains the correct principles of golf in a way especially 
helpful to the late beginner. The illustrations are from 
actual photographs, showing correct and incorrect meth¬ 
ods, also the various positions for the different strokes. 
Illustrated. 60 cents net; postage, 5 cents 
McBRIDE NAST & CO., Publishers. Union Square, New York City 
7n writing to advertisers please mention House and Garden. 
