302 
FOREST AND STREAM 
March 9, 1912 
Work of the American Association. 
The activities of the American Game Protec¬ 
tive and Propagation Association have extended 
rapidly. 
Between five and six thousand acres have been 
secured in Carver and Plymouth townships, 
Massachusetts, to be used as a game farm and 
sanctuary. The land is situated on Cape Cod, 
near the town of Tremont, about forty miles 
from Boston. It is approximately five miles long 
by three miles wide. On it there are thirty ponds 
and a good growth of pine and scrub 'Oak, Dur¬ 
ing the last three or four years it has been used 
as a game sanctuary, and as a result there are 
now many quail and ruffed grouse in the covers. 
The climate in this section is mild, the winters 
never being severe enough to kill either of these 
birds. 
At one time the ponds afforded some of the 
best duck and goose shooting in New England. 
They lie directly in the line of flight of these 
migrants, which, since restrictions have been 
placed on shooting them, have been alighf'ng 
there in increasing numbers on their northward 
and southward journeys. Many wild fowl breed 
there and the association plans to increase this 
number by affording them unusual advantages 
in the way of food. The breeding of wild ducks 
will be the initial work in propagation. A supply of 
black, mallard and wood ducks will be purchased 
immediately. Corn will he distributed in the 
shallow water around the edges of the ponds, so 
that the flocks brought down by the propagated 
ducks will be encouraged to nest there. 
The eggs laid by the tame flock will be hatched 
under hens. This method of propagation has 
been successfully carried on many times, and 
as black ducks and mallards are great layers, it is 
estimated that thousands can be raised this year. 
Special attention will be given to the wood- 
duck. The association plans to raise these birds 
in numbers. 
There have been numerous attempts in this 
country to raise quail and ruffed grouse, but few 
of them have been successful. On the other 
hand, efforts to raise pheasants have turned out 
well in most localities where it has been at¬ 
tempted. In the South and on the Pacific Coast 
the Hungarian partridge has also thrived to 
some extent. The reasons for so many failures 
in attempting to propagate our native birds have 
been various, but it is not at all strange that we 
should fail in this country at the beginning. 
People point to the fact that in England, Scot¬ 
land and on the Continent, thousands of native 
wild birds are raised annually, but they do not 
stop to consider that they are raised by game- 
keepers who belong to a race of gamekeepers, 
father and son having been engaged in this oc¬ 
cupation for generations. They have learned the 
secrets of the trade, while in this country we 
have given little thought to the matter. It is 
quite likely that the association will secure an 
expert gamekeeper from Scotland to take charge 
I'f rearing upland birds. The foreign game- 
k-eepers in this country have been very generally 
successful. Undoubtedly they will teach their 
profession to native Americans and will thus 
start a line of gamekeepers in this country that 
will play an important part in solving the game 
problems of the future. Notable successes have 
already been made in this country, but the num¬ 
ber of expert native game breeders is very 
limited. 
The birds raised on the association’s farm will 
be distributed among members for stocking pur¬ 
poses. The association is advocating the es¬ 
tablishment of game refuges in all parts of the 
country. Particularly it believes that every gun 
club or protective association should get con¬ 
trol of a few acres at least to be used for this 
purpose. Wherever such refuges are situated 
they will naturally improve shooting in the sur¬ 
rounding country. If the birds have a place 
where they can raise their young in security and 
where the coveys will not be reduced to one or 
two each fall, they will increase so rapidly that 
they are bound to overflow into the surround¬ 
ing territory. Next year the association will en¬ 
deavor to forward shipments of birds to all 
affiliated clubs that will make some such pro¬ 
vision for their safety. 
The Massachusetts farm has been secured on a 
ten-years’ lease, with an option to buy for the 
original price of $13,000 any time during that 
period. The land, which is worth many times 
this amount, was purchased by disinterested 
sportsmen, each putting in about $1,000 on con¬ 
dition that no shooting would be allowed upon it. 
These men have very kindly turned it over to the 
National Association under the above terms. The 
only restrictions attached are that it shall con¬ 
tinue to be a santuary for twenty years after the 
date of the lease, whether or not it is purchased. 
It is also stipulated that at least $500 a year must 
be spent in reforestation. 
The hearty support of sportsmen throughout 
the country that was so encouraging during the 
first three months of the association’s existence, 
has been continued, and up to March i, about 
$6,000 had been subscribed. On Jan. 16 the asso¬ 
ciation secured its first patron, T. Coleman 
duPont, of Wilmington, Delaware, having con¬ 
tributed $1,000. 
Particularly gratifying is the way fish and game 
clubs and local and State protective associations 
have joined the movement. Such bodies, situated 
in all parts of the country, are hastening to affili¬ 
ate with the National Association, and there is 
now a long list of such affiliated clubs on its 
roster. 
The Spring Lake Case. 
Bloomington, Ill., March 2—Editor Forest and 
Stream: The Illinois Supreme Court has come 
to the rescue of the hunters and fishermen in 
their appeal to save Spring Lake in Tazewell 
county from conversion into a cornfield. 
Spring lake is nine miles in length and one 
hundred yards to a half mile wide. Between the 
lake and the Illinois River there is a tract of 
14,000 acres of land which is embraced in a 
drainage district. Substantially all of this, land 
is subject to overflow from the Illinois River. 
In 1903 the drainage district was organized 
with the view of removing the water from the 
Spring Lake territory, and to convert the swampy 
soil into cornland. A levee was constructed 
along the south shore of the Illinois River to 
protect the land from overflow. At the lower 
end of the district a pumping station was estab¬ 
lished and for several years the pumps have been 
at work pumping the water into the Illinois 
River. For a distance of six miles at the upper 
end of the district, farms have replaced the 
swampy section, and all that was left for the 
hunters and fishermen was the lower three miles 
which has been in controversy. 
The drainage commissioners desired to take 
the entire tract, but the hunters and fishermen 
have resisted this procedure on the ground that 
Spring Lake has always been navigable, and that 
its owmership w’as vested in the State and was, 
therefore, public property. The commissioners 
were enjoined from constructing a dike across 
the lower end at the junction with the Illinois 
River, such a dike preventing all • boats from 
entering the lake from the river, and at the same 
time enabling the commissioners to pump all of 
the w'ater from the lake. 
In igo6 the commissioners entered into an 
agreement wdth the hunters and fishermen, the 
latter being represented by Attorney-General W. 
H. Stead, by which it was proposed to construct 
a lock, connecting the lake and the river. Objec¬ 
tion was raised on the ground that during the 
periods of low water it would be useless, the 
water on the river side of the lock being so low 
as to prevent the passage of any boats larger 
than a skiff. It was further pointed out that 
the engineer’s estimate of the expense of such a 
lock would be $50,000 while the expense of con¬ 
structing a levee on the north side of the lake, 
which prevents the water from flowing into the 
cornfields adjacent, would cost an equal sum. 
Instead of building the lock as per the agree¬ 
ment, the commissioners decided to extend the 
drainage district and dam the lake at both ends, 
thus shutting out all water. A bill in injunction 
w'as filed to prevent such a move, and after losing 
out in the lower courts, the commissioners ap¬ 
pealed to the supreme body, fl'he latter court has 
just decided that the agreement must be re¬ 
spected, that Spring Lake was meandered by the 
Government, and that the title to the bed of the 
lake is in the State in trust for the use of the 
public; that Spring Lake, in a state of nature, 
is a navigable body of water, and that the public 
has the right of navigation without regard to the 
ownership of the bed of the lake, and that the 
commissioners have no right to interfere with 
or obstruct navigation thereon. 
While the commissioners have reached no de¬ 
cision concerning their future course, the chances 
are that they will decide to abandon the pro¬ 
posed reclamation of the lower end of the resort, 
thus giving sportsmen a tract three miles in 
length and about two miles in width. Sportsmen 
who have for years hunted and fished upon 
Spring Lake hope that the last chapter in the 
long litigation has ended, and that the case will 
not be reopened. E. E. Pierson. 
All the game laws of the United States and 
Canada, revised to date and now in force, are 
given in the Game Laws in Brief. See adv. 
