376 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[Sept. 2, 1911. 
Wild Turkey Raising in California. 
San Francisco, Cal., Aug. 23 .— Editor Forest 
and Stream: The California Fish and Game 
Commission has had excellent success this sea¬ 
son in propagating Mexican wild turkeys at the 
State game farm at Hayward, and now has 
fully 600 of these birds on hand. Plans are 
being made for the distribution of these, and 
within the next few weeks several hundred will 
be liberated in various sections of the State 
where conditions seem satisfactory. These birds 
have been reared from the few turkeys brought 
a few years ago from Mexico by the commis¬ 
sion, and the success that has been met with in 
rearing them has proved very gratifying. The 
big flock this season has been almost entirely 
free from disease and vermin, thanks to the 
watchful care of J. R. Argabrite, superintendent 
of the farm, and there is every reason to be¬ 
lieve that the birds will thrive when liberated. 
The first shipment of wild turkeys this season 
will be to the Sequoia National Park where sev¬ 
eral birds were released last season. An attend¬ 
ant will accompany the shipment to Lemoncove, 
where it will be met by representatives of the 
park authorities who are rendering valuable as¬ 
sistance to the Fish and Game Commission. The 
birds will be transported in large coops from 
here to the park by wagon, and upon their ar¬ 
rival there will be turned loose in large corrals 
to rest for a few days. In all 150 birds will be 
liberated at first, but upon reaching the park 
the lot will be divided and the distribution will 
take place at widely separated localities. 
In releasing the birds special precautions are 
to be taken with an idea of arousing in the 
birds their natural instincts of fear which has 
been quite lost by rearing them in captivity. No 
one will be allowed to be seen by day in the 
vicinity of the places where the birds are liber¬ 
ated, but food will be distributed at night in 
small quantities. This will be continued for 
several days, and then a man with a gun and 
dog will appear in the day time. Blank car¬ 
tridges will be fired and the birds will be chased 
through the brush with the idea of frightening 
them as much as possible. Later on in the sea¬ 
son another lot of 150 birds will be taken to 
this park and liberated, and it is believed that 
this number will suffice to stock this locality. 
A highly interesting report has been received 
by the commissioners from Major James B. 
Hughes, First Cavalry, acting superintendent of 
the Sequoia and General Grant National Parks 
in reference to the turkeys liberated there a 
year ago, this having been compiled by Walter 
Fry, park ranger. Included in the report is the 
following: 
Birds were seen this year by the following 
individuals on the dates and at the places as 
given: 
Walter Fry, Feb. 20: 8 adult birds, one nest witn It 
eggs, at Marble Fork. 
Walter Fry, March 20: 12 adult birds, 9 young birds, at 
Turkey Flat. 
Walter Fry, June G: One adult bird, 6 young birds, at 
Salt Spring. 
Walter Fry, July 3: 4 adult birds, 7 young birds, at 
Barnefee Flat. 
Walter Fry, July 14: 5 adult birds, at Barnefee Flat. 
Walter Fry, July 16: 11 adult birds, at Alder Creek. 
C. W. Blossom, Jan. 11: 2 adult birds, at Salt Spring. 
C. W. Blossom, Feb. 15: 2 adult birds, one nest with 
7 eggs, at Salt Spring. 
C. W. Blossom, March 4: 3 adult birds, at Turkey Flat. 
C. W. Blossom, June 14: 1 adult bird, at Pigeon Creek. 
H. T. Britten, Jan. 11: 3 adult birds, at Turkey Flat. 
J. G. V. Grunigen, March 4: 2 adult birds, at Turkey 
Flat. 
E. L. Cass, July 8 : 2 adult birds, at Turkey Flat. 
C. W. Fry, July 8 : 2 adult birds, at Turkey Flat. 
C. W. Keller, April 15: 6 adult birds, at Salt Springs. 
Chester Wright, April 15: 6 adult birds, at Salt Springs. 
Chester Wright, April 22: 3 adult birds, at Salt Springs. 
Robert Pool, July 8 : 4 adult birds and 4 young, at 
Barnefee Flat. 
R. Hubbard, July 11, 2 adult birds, at Barnefee Flat. 
In addition to the birds seen by the parties 
mentioned, many other parties have seen birds, 
but as dates are not known, their names have 
been omitted. 
This report is highly satisfactory to the mem¬ 
bers of the commission, for it indicates that the 
birds have wintered in good shape, and that they 
are increasing in a satisfactory manner. 
A shipment of fifty birds will be made to San 
Diego county, fifty to Monterey county, twenty- 
five to the Big Basin district in Santa Cruz 
county, twenty-five to the State preserve at the 
Folsom prison and twenty-five to the Alameda 
county watershed of the Spring Valley Water 
Company where a preserve is maintained. After 
this distribution is made there will still be a 
number of birds on hand and these may be dis¬ 
posed of to private parties. Application has been 
filed with the Board of Control for the purpose 
of selling a few birds, and this will be acted 
upon shortly. A number of domestic turkey 
raisers are desirous of securing gobblers from 
the flock for the purpose of introducing new 
blood into their birds to make them more hardy. 
The commission now has on hand at its farm 
at Hayward about 600 pheasants of different 
varieties, but these were hatched rather late and 
will not be ready for distribution for some time. 
The pheasants have not proved as much of a 
success as the turkeys, as conditions have not 
been as satisfactory. The birds have been 
reared by hens that have been picked up here 
and there by the commission, and quite a loss 
has been experienced from vermin. However, 
as many birds have been raised as was antici¬ 
pated, and this season’s results can no doubt be 
improved upon another year. The commission 
is anxious to secure a wide distribution of these 
birds, and is offering to give anyone a pair who 
will agree to return a similar number from the 
first hatching made. Golden Gate. 
New Game Laws. 
A comprehensive summary of the game laws 
of the United States and Canada, including those 
enacted during the present year, is set forth in 
Farmers’ Bulletin 470, United States Department 
of Agriculture, issued by Secretary Wilson. The 
bulletin brings the data relating to game up to 
date and shows, by States, the new as well as 
old laws, changes and modifications of all laws 
relating to shipment, sales, limits and licenses. 
It is stated that while the 1911 laws exceeded 
in volume those of any previous year, that was 
due to changes in the warden service, control 
of license funds, and to the curtailment of the 
bag limit rather than to modifying of seasons. 
Notable modifications in the warden system were 
made in Delaware, New York, North Dakota, 
Oregon and Wyoming. Other States also passed 
laws increasing the warden force. Montana 
created three, North Dakota two game preserves, 
while Idaho and Washington added one each to 
their preserves. Massachusetts and Oregon 
made permanent arrangements for the creating 
of future preserves. California, Maine, Massa¬ 
chusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey and 
Wisconsin passed laws permitting the possess¬ 
ion and disposal of game reared in private pre¬ 
serves. North Carolina joined the lists of States 
prohibiting the exportation of live quail for re¬ 
stocking purposes. New York adopted legisla¬ 
tion closing its markets to all but a few foreign 
species and game raised in captivity. 
A novel feature of new legislation was the 
prohibiting of the belling of dogs or use of 
other noise-producing devices in wildfowl shoot¬ 
ing in Delaware, and the prohibiting by North 
Dakota of the use of automobiles in duck hunt¬ 
ing. 
The deer season was shortened from eleven 
to six days in Colorado, and from 109 to 62 in 
California, but was lengthened in Michigan, 
South Carolina, Vermont and Wyoming. Cot- 
tentail and bush rabbits were placed on the game 
list and provided with a season in California. 
Wild ducks were added to the lists in Delaware 
and South Carolina; Delaware placed woodcock 
on the game list; Kansas, squirrels and snipe; 
Maine, eider ducks; Nebraska, killdeers and 
doves; and New Jersey, Hungarian partridges. 
Much needed protection was given gray and 
black squirrels by Kansas; wild ducks by Massa¬ 
chusetts; woodducks by Maine and Vermont; 
and doves and swans by North Dakota. 
Rhode Island shortened its shore bird season, 
opening Oct. 15 instead of July 15. Tennessee 
prohibited the sale of quail and robins. North 
Carolina revoked the authority of the Audubon 
Society to issue permits for the exportation of 
quail. Arkansas, Alabama, California, Colorado, 
Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, 
Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, 
Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Ne¬ 
braska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, 
North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, 
Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Caro¬ 
lina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, 
Vermont, Washington, West Virginia and Wis¬ 
consin all made changes in these laws. The total 
number of new game laws passed in 1911 was 
about 250. 
England and Reforestation. 
England, with a smaller percentage of for¬ 
ested area than any other civilized country, is 
importing enormous quantities of wood in vari¬ 
ous forms. About 90 per cent, of all the timber 
she uses comes from her colonies or other coun¬ 
tries, and for it she must pay yearly some thirty 
million pounds. The United Kingdom, contrary 
to the general impression, has a great deal of 
waste land that could be profitably devoted to 
timber production and made to supply much of 
the demand for timber by her varied industries. 
That the necessity for further developing the 
natural resources is now fully realized by the 
leading English statesmen is strikingly evidenced 
in the budget which has recently been intro¬ 
duced into the House of Commons. The chan¬ 
cellor of the exchequer, Lloyd George, made a 
speech of nearly four and one-half hours in ex¬ 
planation of the many items and new provisions 
of the budget. According to the London Daily 
News this speech marked a record unparalleled 
since the achievement of Mr. Gladstone in the 
fifties. 
In outlining the budget’s proposals for foresta- 
