FOREST AND STREAM 
OCTOBER, 1917 
470 
HOinr©^ DAtL ©DIMM [EOT 
on happenings of note in the outdoor world 
IMPORTANT LEGISLATION 
OR the first time in the histo'ry of this or any other 
country, the science of the breeding and preserv¬ 
ing of game birds will be taught in one of Amer¬ 
ica’s great universities. 
This is made possible by the passage of a bill in the 
New York Legislature appropriating $15,000 for the 
purchase of a farm in Tompkins County, New York, 
on which it is provided experimental and practical breed¬ 
ing of game may be carried on. It is further provided 
that the trustees of Cornell University shall accept, 
maintain and administer the farm and it shall form a 
part of the New York State College of Agriculture 
“for the purpose of conducting practical experiments in 
and giving instruction on the breeding of game.” 
It is specifically provided that the farm shall be run 
in close cooperation with the State Conservation Com¬ 
mission and that its surplus product shall annually be 
placed at the disposal of the Commission. 
The immediate results that can be expected from the 
establishment of the farm will be twofold: 
1. Instruction will be afforded young men who wish 
to become qualified gamekeepers, for which class of 
labor the demand greatly exceeds the supply. Practical 
experience on the farm will be reinforced by the techni¬ 
cal instruction of the lecture room. 
2. Farmers of New York will be given, through the 
medium of the farm, instruction in the cultivation of a 
remunerative crop which merges well with other agri¬ 
cultural activities, particularly dairying and the growing 
of grasses. 
U PON the foundation that will be established, it is 
hoped and confidently expected that in time Cor¬ 
nell will turn out men and women well instruct¬ 
ed, not only in the science of game breeding and pre¬ 
serving, but also in all of the work incident to the 
conservation of wild life of all kinds, particularly the 
insect-destroying and weed-seed eating birds which play 
such an important part in crop protection. 
Those behind this movement believe that there will be 
an increasing demand in this country for experts of this 
sort and that eventually every state in the Union will 
have in its employ at least one such person as a practi¬ 
cal aid to farmers in the protection of their crops and 
the breeding of game on a commercial basis, and to 
sportsmen in increasing the supply of game birds. 
Cornell, with her splendid laboratories and scientists 
of high rank, is already admirably equipped for carrying 
on this work and it needed only the addition of this 
working laboratory, as it were, to make her equipped 
for giving instruction in wild life conservation prac¬ 
tically complete. 
Among those at Cornell who will cooperate in the 
development of this work may be mentioned Dr. J. G. 
Needham, the well-known biologist; Professor James 
E. Rice, head of the Department of Poultry Husbandry, 
and Dr. Arthur A. Allen, who has achieved a wide repu¬ 
tation as an economic ornithologist. 
T HE idea of establishing a game farm at Cornell and 
instituting instruction in conservation of wild life 
originated practically simultaneously with Charles 
E. Treman, of Ithaca, a trustee of Cornell University, 
who is much interested in wild life, and E. A. Quarles, 
of New York City, director of the Department of.Game 
Breeding and Preserving of the American Game Pro¬ 
tective Association, the sportsmen’s national organiza¬ 
tion. Mr. Quarles has been giving lectures on the tech¬ 
nique of game breeding at Cornell for the past two 
years. The matter was brought to a head last winter 
at the conclusion of a series of these lectures in which 
he was assisted by Mr. Herbert K. Job, Director of the 
Department of Applied Ornithology of the National As¬ 
sociation of Audubon Societies and Mr. Harry T. 
Rogers, Superintendent of the New York State Game 
Farms. 
The bill owes its passage largely to the devoted sup¬ 
port of Senators Elon R. Brown, Henry M. Sage, Morris 
S. Halliday, Speaker Thaddeus C. Sweet, and Assembly- 
men H. Edmund Machold and Casper Fenner. It was 
approved and strongly supported by Conservation Com¬ 
missioner George D. Pratt. T. Gilbert Pearson, Secre¬ 
tary of the National Association of Audubon Societies, 
gave the measure his warm approval and support and of 
course the American Game Protective Association, 
through its president, John B. Burnham, was active in 
promoting the success of the measure. Leaders in sport 
throughout the state were also most helpful in the work 
and, while it is impossible to name all of these, the Hon. 
Horace White and J. Dan Ackerman, of Syracuse, per¬ 
formed such exceptional service that it is felt acknowl¬ 
edgement should be made of their efforts. 
The various interests affected by this bill feel particu¬ 
larly indebted to Governor Whitman for his approval of 
it. As it carried an appropriation it had to be scru¬ 
tinized most carefully and the fact that it was approved 
is evidence that the Governor believed the measure to be 
greatly to the interest of the state’s farmers, sportsmen 
and bird lovers. 
In taking this action, New York again proves its 
supremacy in matters relating to the conservation and 
increase of wild life. There are many who consider the 
passage of this bill as one of the most important acts 
that have ever taken place in the great national move¬ 
ment for the better protection of the nation’s heritage 
of wild life. 
