SK 355 11 '■^-PJS^i |f;..>.-W" ^-=mi i • :"":!- SK 355 T?'"'"®" ""iversity Library Game laws and game. 3 1924 003 423 633 GAME LAWS AND GAME Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003423633 CUTS FOR SALE BY JOHN W. TALBOT, SOUTH BEND, IND. Cut No. 1. Price $1.S0. (Golden Pheasant.) Cut No. 2. Price $1.50. (Lady Amherst Pheasant.) CUTS FOR SALE BY JOHN W. TALBOT, SOUTH BEND IND. Cut No. 3. Price $1.00. (Lady Amherst Pheasant.) Cut No. 6. Price $1.25. (Peacock.) Cut)No. 4. Price $1.00. (Golden Pheasant.) Cut No. 7. Price 73c. (Ring Neck Pheasant. ) :J Cut No. 5. Price $1.25. (Ring Neck Pheasant.) Cut No. S Price 75c. (Peacock.) Game Laws and Game BY JOHN W. TALBOT Secretary Game Bird Society "Every great reform which has been effected has consisted, not in doing something new, but in undoing something old. The most valuable addi- tions made to legislation have been enactments destructive of preceding legislation ; and the best laws which have been passed have been those by which some former laws were repealed." — Buckles History of Civilization In England. "The natural effort of every individual to better his own condition, when suffered to exert itself with freedom and security, is so powerful a prin- ciple, that it is alone, and without any assistance, not only capable of carrying on the society to wealth and prosperity, but of surmounting a hun- dred impertinent obstructions with which the folly of human laws too often encumbers its operations." — "Wealth of Nations", by Adam Smith. Published by THE GAME BIRD SOCIETY South Bend, Indiana 1916 Tn Han. Frank TO. ^KtstTBr OF LOGANSPORT. INDfANA LAWYER AND WORKER THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED. HE SECURED THE ENACTMENT OF THE "INDIANA LAW," TO WHICH REFERENCE IS IMADE IN ITS PAGES. IN COURTS AND LEGISLATURE FOR YEARS HE HAS BEEN EF- FECTIVE, ALWAYS CHAMPIONING THE RIGHT AND NEVER AFFRIGHTED BECAUSE HIS MOTIVES MIGHT BE MISUNDERSTOOD OR HIS CONDUCT CONDEMNED BY THE UNINFORMED AND UNTHINKING. HE HAS UNDERSTOOD " THE REMNANT IS RIGHT, WHEN THE MASSES ARE LED LIKE SHEEP TO THE PEN AND THE INSTINCT OF EQUITY SLUMBERS TILL LED BY INSTINCTIVE MEN," Author's Edition The first lOO copies of this book taken from the press constitute the A uthors Edition, and are numbered with pen consecutively from- i to TOO and signed by the author. Author s Edition No. Game Laws and Game. It is but a few years since the time of which Elbert Hub- bard said, "In my childhood much of the State of Illinois was a prairie, where wild grass waved and bowed before the breeze, like the tide of a summer sea. I remember when 'relatives' rode miles and miles in springless farm-wagons to visit cousins, taking the whole family and staying two nights and a day; when books were things to be read; when the beaver and the buffalo were not extinct ; when pigeons came in clouds that shadowed the sun ; when steamboats ran on the Sangamon; when Bishop Simpson preached; when Hell was a place, not a theory, and Heaven a locality whose for- tunate inhabitants had no work to do; when Chicago news- papers were ten cents each ; when cotton cloth was fifty cents a yard, and my shirt was made from a flour-sack, with the legend, 'Extra XXX,' across my proud bosom, and just below the words in flaming red, 'Warranted fifty pounds'." The home of the writer is in Northern Indiana within six miles of Michigan. In my childhood there was a roost of passenger pigeons a few miles from my home where they flocked and were killed at their roost with clubs, the killers carrying away sacks of the dead birds each evening. Dur- ing the past year the last passenger pigeon known to exist in this country, died. At the time of the pigeon roost, buffaloes were so numer- ous they ranged from the Polar Circle to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the Mississippi to the heart of the Rockies. Now the only buffaloes that exist are in the parks, or on game farms and are protected by public authorities or private en- terprise. What I say concerning the pigeon and buffalo might be re- peated as to various birds and animals familiar to the reader that are extinct or approaching extinction. GAME LAWS— THEIR INCEPTION. The value of game birds and animals as food and for orna- mental purposes and in insect destruction public spirited citi- zens early recognized and demanded of legislative bodies the enactment of laws to prevent their extinction. To the legislature at some place it was suggested that a closed season would solve the difficulty and it proceeded to enact a law preventing the killing of certain birds and ani- mals during a prescribed period apparently believing that if not killed by hunters, game would increase, perpetuate it- self and repopulate the country. Other legislative bodies followed the example of the first and very soon all the states of the Union and Provinces of Canada had upon their statutes enactments prohibiting the killing of certain birds and animals during prescribed seasons. It was thought such laws could not be made effective or enforced without aids in the form of other laws and immedi- ately other laws were enacted. To this end it was made criminal to have such birds or animals in one's possession; penalties were provided for common carriers that transported or accepted them for shipment, and it was made a crime to pick up a starved and famished or sick wild bird and to house and feed it. In New Jersey a boy was actually fined $50.00 for finding a quail with a broken leg, putting the leg in splints and keeping the bird until it was well, and the highest Court in New Jersey proved its asininity by affirming the fine. The theory of such laws against possession and 6 transportation was that unless it was made crimiiti to have such things in possession or to transport them, it would be impossible to prove that one who had unlawfully killed a wild animal or bird was guilty of the offense of killing it. GAME LAWS A FAILURE. The enactments providing closed seasons and prohibiting the possession and transportation of game have failed to ac- complish their purpose. Game lias continued to grow less. Yearly the progress toward extinction becomes more pro- nounced notwithstanding such laws. It is time for intelli- gent legislators to give the subject serious thought, quit prattling about closed seasons and prohibiting the possession and transportation of game and encourage its propagation. GAME COMMISSIONERS AND WARDENS. With the enactment of legislation providing for closed sea- sons came the creation of the offices of Game Warden and Commissioner. The alleged purpose in creating these posi- tions was to secure the enforcement of the law and prevent the unlawful killing of game during closed seasons. The theory of the legislators being that "what is everybody's busi- ness is nobody's business" and that it was essential to the en- forcement of the law that special offices be created and special officers be provided whose duty it would be to bring about the punishment of those who illegally killed game. As a con- sequence of our political methods, the Warden was not content with having a position, but was filled with a desire to place his friends in office, because by so doing he not only cared for his friends, but built up a political machine that aided him in securing his continuance in office. To support himself and deputies, he invented the license system by which it is provided that every man who raises game shall pay a license fee to the State for the privilege of raising it. In Cal- ifornia that fee is $25.00 annually. This license fee helps create a fund which enables the Commissioners and Wardens to be paid and to pay their deputies, thus furnishing them means of feeding upon a part of the public by the levy and collection of a special tax. Whenever it is proposed to remedy existing laws by mak- ing lawful the rearing, keeping, shipping, selling and other- wise disposing of game produced and propagated by private industry, the Game Commissioners and Wardens scent trouble for themselves and by every political trick and personal and official falsehood that suggests itself to them oppose every such public spirited proposal that might cause capital to be invested in Game rearing. The public are incHned to believe that a man who holds a position is an authority upon the subject and business, the supervision of which is given to his office. For instance, a man is made Insurance Commissioner by appointment of the Governor because he helped to nominate or elect the Gov- ernor and his political work or personal influence is such that he must be "given something;" the public immediately for- gets that his experience was gained as a lawyer or brewer or farmer, and accords him, in public esteem, expertness as to the business of insurance ; and when he goes before a committee of the legislature or calls in the cheap representa- tives, of the penny press and hands out an interview on the subject of insurance, everything that he says is absorbed by the average reader as the dictum of an insurance Pope who cannot be in error and of an Insurance Messiah who cannot be unjust, whose sole purpose is to protect the pubHc and do justice tD the Insurance Companies. But the fact is that the average Insurance Commissioner is merely a public official who holds a poHtical job in an office for which he wishes the largest appropriation that can be obtained and in which he desires to obtain as much business and authority as he can get in order that he may be enabled to employ the greatest 8 possible number of clerks and deputies. He knows very little, if anything, about Insurance. His office frequently gives or refuse licenses because it likes or dislikes particular persons. The whole institution is conducted for the benefit of the Commissioner and at the expense of the public, a public that deludes itself all the time with the idea that it is being served and that with more or less cheerfulness pays for the supposed service. What is said about Insurance Commis- sioners applies to Game Wardens intended to enforce game laws. They exist upon the theory that game laws make game numerous. If game does not increase there is no excuse for the existence of the Wardens and yet Wardens have increased yearly, and in proportion to their increase game has yearly decreased. Yet we keep on creating Wardens and listening to Wardens and giving heed to the advice of Game Commission- ers, notwithstanding their advice is constantly leading us to destruction. The present Game Warden of Indiana is a notable excep- tion. He is a practical man. He is an honest man. His dep- uty, Jackson, is a sincere, self-sacrificing and public spirited official. Commissioner and Deputy have given thought only to the welfare of the state and tried to increase the game of the State, instead of serving their own selfish, political and personal ends, and the result is that Indiana furnishes the model for Game Law Legislation in other States. CAUSES OF GAME EXTINCTION. No doubt wanton killing has contributed largely to the deci- mation of our game population, but if the killing had not oc- curred, the gradual extinction of game would not have been avoided. It would simply have been postponed. The dis- appearance of our game is due to the progress of civilization, to the changed conditions brought about by the advent of man and the increase of human population. 9 Game requires land upon which to live, coverts in which to hide, feed upon which to be nourished. All these necessaries of game life are being taken from it. As population has in- creased, land has been cultivated and the wild berries, seeds and other nourishment eaten by game, have largely disap- peared. Wild plants, the seeds of which stood in the heads all Winter to be eaten by birds, have given place to domestic crops, the seed of which is threshed, housed and kept from the birds during the Winter. Wild and waste land has been drained and reclaimed. The country has been drainage-mad and as the swamps have been dried and cultivated, the hiding places of game have disappeared. For every bird or animal killed by a hunter, many have suffered death from disease or, in their weakened condition, have been killed by vermin. Providing a closed season and expecting it to. increase our game population is about as sensible as the view of the Settle- ment Worker, who, finding a starving child freezing upon a door-step, passed on with the remark, "You live under the protection of 18,000 laws." GAME RAISING IS THE REMEDY. Proof of this assertion is found in the following facts : Of the eggs of Quail set by the birds in a wild state, 81 per cent hatch. Of the eggs of the same bird hatched in captivity on private game farms, 72 per cent hatch. Of the birds hatched in the wild state, 15 per cent attain maturity. Of the eggs hatched in private preserves 64 per cent mature. These fig- ures are taken from one hundred and seven observations made in the years 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913 and 1914. These figures can be amplified by the statement of the ob- servers, a part of which is as follows : "Chickens were origin- ally a wild bird. The habitat of the chicken was very limited. It consisted of a strip of territory bordering on the Mediter- ranean sea on the southern border of Europe, the eastern 10 border of Asia and the northern shore of Africa. The chicken was not domesticated until after the coming of Christ. Then we learn from Clixtus that a certain fowl very shy of man- kind was brought to Athens and after three seasons reared progeny. Since then the chicken has become the most numer- ous of all birds. If laws were to be enacted protecting chick- ens from hunters and butchers and forbidding their owner- ship and rearing by private industry, there would not be a chicken in existence in a few years. Some contend that if private ownership, sale and killing of game birds is permitted, it will accomplish destruction of such birds by affording game hunters an opportunity to kill the wild game and palm it off on the public as domestic stock. The Chinese Ringneck Pheasant is not a native of this country. All the game laws devised would not make the Chinese Ring- neck a resident of this country. That required private enter- prise. An American official resident in China became ac- quainted with this bird and brought some to this country. The bird was then unknown to this country and on that account there were no fool game laws to prevent raising the birds. He raised some. Most of these he liberated in Washington and Oregon and as a result those states are now well stocked. England is ahead of the United States and Canada in many respects, one of which is game legislation. In England wild game hunting is only allowed under regulations made by par- liament, but all the game laws of England expressly make it legal for any person to raise, ship, sell and kill game for pleasure or profit. The English sporting fraternity long ago undertook propagation. Today the Pheasant population of England is twice as great as its human population and the Secretary of the "Field Sports and Game Guild" of England and Scotland gives in its directory for the season 1913-1914 the names and addresses of twenty-four game raisers who in that season set seventy-five thousand Pheasant hens. Don't 11 get the idea that this is a typographical error. The figure is 75,000. On the other hand as soon as the successful rearing of Pheasants was assured in the United States, some of the fool game hunters, game commissioners and legislators suc- ceeded in having several states enact laws prohibiting their domestic rearing and handling. The result is that it is taking us a painfully long period of time to put upon a solid founda- tion an industry that England made a success in ten years. It is due solely to private industry that we have the Ringneck in America. The States that interfered with Chinese Pheasant culture have in the main seen the light and it is now permis- sible to rear the birds in most states. There are still some fool laws to be repealed. One law to which I refer was passed by the State of New York. It permits rearing and sale of Pheasants in the state but forbids any person bringing any Pheasant into the state except from a foreign country. They say that law was passed to increase the number of New York Pheasants. The asininity of such a law is self evident. New York encourages game raising in Europe but wants no game raised in other states. While the Ringneck Pheasant in a strange country and in all its different climates has multiplied because it has been raised by private parties as a business enterprise, the prairie chicken, native grouse, quail and other native game birds have been almost exterminated by disease, natural enemies, ro- dents and the gradual increase of the human population which destroys their feeding and hiding places. Give individuals the right to rear quail as a business and the interested persons will protect, feed and care for them and as a consequence they will multiply. They will be reared and frequently sold to per- sons who will liberate them for stocking purposes. Private and state hatcheries make possible the restocking of our fishing grounds. All the protective laws did not increase the number of fish. 12 A man will protect his money and if his money is invested in quail, he will protect the quail. It was Buffalo Jones who saved the Buffalo in this country by buying a few specimens and keeping them for their increase. In a wild state it is esti- mated that it required all of North America to support two hundred thousand Indians and it is believed the population of this continent was two hundred thousand when Columbus discovered it. But civilization and comfort enable more peo- ple to live in a given territory than can live in the same terri- tory in savagery. What is true of human beings is true of game. That all students who have scientifically considered the matter are agreed the solution of the game problem is private industry is shown by the following excerpts from the writings of different great authorities upon this subject : "The raising of game for profit not only need not jeopard- ize the safety and abundance of our wild game, but is likely to increase the quantity of wild game." — Statement of Bio- logical Survey, Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. "The breeding of Pheasants and other game birds in cap- tivity for sale — either for eating or for breeding purposes, is just as legitimate as the breeding of any of our domestic birds or animals. Every game bird raised and, sold in captivity helps to protect the State's supply of wild game." — Pheasant Farming, Page 8. By Gene M. Simpson, Superintendent, Ore- gon State Game Farm. "Little by little we have become used to smaller bags of game. In many futile ways (closed seasons) founded on hope and desire rather than on common sense — we have tried to arrest the hand which writes upon the wall. None the less, we must admit all attempts to keep American game have failed. We must pass from old ways to new." — Henry Rich- mond Coyle, in Outdoor Life and Recreation, October, 1913. "As a result of this method of protection (closed seasons 13 alone) our game is surely and rapidly diminishing and the complete extinction of some species seems not far distant, un- less some new tack is taken, and it would seem that the most reasonable solution of the problem would be to turn the ani- mals to profit by domestication and at the same time by this method to insure perpetuation. Our prehistoric ancestors were in this respect more progressive than ourselves, captured, tamed and domesticated the progenitors of our domestic live stock and by so doing added greatly to the wealth, comfort and happiness of themselves and those who followed them." — Dillon Wallace, in Outing Magazine. "In the place of market hunters, cold storage produce deal- ers should look to private game farms and breeders' camps for their future supply of game." — "Game Protection and Propagation in America," by Henry Chase. "It is doubtful if there is a better way in which to educate the people of Michigan in the importance of the economic use of our wild life than to further its propagation privately for commercial profit. This is the unqualified opinion of Ernest Thompson Seton, a prolific writer on animals and their hab- its, and perhaps the most noted student of wild life of this day." Wm. R. Oates, Michigan State Game Warden. "As it becomes more and more necessary to remove all the wild game from the market, the public demands something to take its place. This can well be supplied from that raised in captivity. A law allowing the sale of deer meat would not make it any more difficult to protect the wild animals ; on the other hand it would supply the demand for venison and would remove the reason for violating the law that sometimes exists under our present system. We recommend that Pheasants raised in captivity be sold in the markets. This has a two- fold advantage. First, it would provide a dehcious game bird for the tables of hotels and restaurants, and proportionately 14 reduce the drain on wild game in the fields." — CaHfornia Fish and Game Commissioners' Report, 1912. "If we are to keep our game and game birds, we must en- courage capital and industry to engage in producing and rear- ing them. As a perpetuator of our game the 'closed season' experiment has been an awful failure. When men have money invested in game raising they will produce game and they will protect wild game to keep it from being sold in competition with that raised by themselves. The authorities of Indiana, recognizing that closed seasons and Hmited bags resulted in the practical extinction of the state's game, have, after giving the subject exhaustive study, enacted the model law on this subject. They have swept away all obstacles that prevented game raising by putting it on the same basis as the raising of chickens and cattle. Where licensing or tagging or any other burden is laid upon an industry, it hinders development." — Helen Bartlett, President Game Bird Society. "Artificial propagation, however, has a very important function to perform in the nation-wide effort to restock de- pleted covers. Large sums of money have been spent by many states and individuals, both American and foreign, in liberating stock obtained from other localities. A wide ex- perience proves that birds strange to a place, whether Ameri- can, or foreign, even if they breed the first season, usually migrate away, taking their broods with them, as they have no special local attachments to restrain them. But when this same stock is held, in order to breed in confinement — the eggs hatched by bantams and the young reared by them — these young, held by their natural 'homing instinct', tend to stay upon the land, when conditions are suitable." — Propaga- tion of Upland Game Birds, by Herbert K. Job, Ornithologist of the National Association of Audubon Societies. 15 PRIVATE INDUSTRY MUST NOT BE HAMPERED BY GAME LAW RESTRICTIONS. "Game protection" is a term originated by men who noted the rapidly disappearing wild Hfe of the country. Without opportunities for intelligent observation and without sufficient knowledge of the subject, but with the best of intentions, the men interested in preserving wild life rushed into legislatures with what they on first thought deemed to be a 'cure all' for the difficulty. The cry was 'protect the game, do not let it be killed, do not allow it to be shipped, do not allow it to be possessed.' Laws to that effect were enacted and now intelli- gent legislators are meeting to do what Artemus Ward said of the legislature of Utah, 'they meet this year to repeal the laws that they met and made last year.' " In Pennsylvania you cannot raise game birds or animals unless you have a license and to obtain the license you must be twenty-one years of age, therefore, you are not permitted to make money by raising game unless you are twenty-one years of age. You are not permitted to increase the number of game birds or animals in the state unless you are twenty- one years of age. You are not permitted to increase the game of the state unless you have a license. You must admit that game is wealth and that the more game a state has the more wealthy it is and that one who raises game increases the wealth of the state. In Pennsylvania it is unlawful to add to the wealth of the state unless you are twenty-one years of age and get a selfish, job-seeking, job-holding, petty official's per- mission in the form of a license, for which you pay him a fee, the only return for which is his job which makes him a burden to the state instead of adding to its wealth. A politician-official cannot be considered wealth. A Game Commissioner cannot be included in a fist of the state's re- sources, but in many states, although he is merely a parasite, 16 he is permitted to stand in the way of progress and to exact and collect tribute from citizens who are desirous of increas- ing and augmenting the state's wealth. An amusing defense of Hcense, permit and tagging foolish- ness in the State laws of Pennsylvania is made by a nice little old man named Kalbfus, who is the secretary of the Pennsyl- vania Game Commission. Kalbfus says the law of his state is right because the legislature enacted it. He naively adds that the members of the Pennsylvania legislature were better able to determine what was best as to game raising, than were persons engaged in game raising for money. We must there- fore conclude that Kalbfus' education was gained from the acts of his state legislature. The acts may be repealed at any time, thus wiping out his education. Nevertheless, he is the "game intelligence" (?) of his state. A man who produces is esteemed better than one who destroys, yet Kalbfus believes in laws that prevent people in his state engaging in game raising, because by so doing they might make money and aug- ment the state's wealth. We regret we cannot furnish a por- trait of one whose education and opinions are enacted and modified or revised for him by enactment of the Pennsylvania legislature. GAME FARMING STOCKS THE COUNTRY. Where game birds are reared in captivity, it invariably occurs that some of the reared birds escape from the premises of the owner and take to a wild life. Such birds naturally breed, increase and stock the country. One of the best illus- trations of this fact is the game farm of Helen Bartlett, near Cassopolis, Michigan. Recently upon a visit to her place, she pointed out to me three Pheasants and a covey of blue quail reared by her that had escaped from her pens and were living in a meadow and marsh near a creek that runs through her farm. That farm is posted as a state game refuge and the 17 escaped birds are living and propagating undisturbed where there would be no such birds had it not been for the fact that she is engaged in game raising. DOMESTICATION. There is a beginning to everything. The original dog was taken from the litter of a wild dog before its eyes opened. We are all familiar with the pet ground hog, the pet crow, the pet skunk, the pet deer and the various other pet animals and birds captured wild while young and kept and made tame by good treatment until they have bred in captivity. Each of us has seen the nest of quail, partridge or lark disturbed by the mowing machine, that perhaps killed the old bird, leaving the eggs unprotected, that the farmer boy has gathered in his hat and taken to the house, where his mother put them under an old hen and let them hatch. The owner of such pets and the gatherer of such eggs taken from the wild and reduced to private ownership is the savior of our wild game. It is to that person and not to game wardens and closed seasons that we must look for its perpetuation. It is that person who will, so far as it is possible, prevent game from becoming extinct. It is our duty in making laws to encourage that person and not to discourage or punish him. Under the law of California, which makes it a criminal offense to have certain birds and animals in one's possession without a license and the payment of $25.00 a year, a boy would not dare to gather eggs and hatch and care for birds. The California State Control Board has ordered its game farm closed and the abandonment of all efforts at game prop- agation. The Board gives as its reasons for this action, "First : That the expense is too great; Second: That the purpose of the farm — the education of the people and the teaching of them that wild game can be successfully raised in captivity — has been accompHshed." The Legislature of California pro- 18 vided that game could only be raised by private industry where the person engaged in such raising obtained a license at the cost of an annual fee of $25.00. The reason given for this enactment was that it was necessary to raise money from pri- vate individuals engaged in game raising that the money might be used to support the State Farm, which State Farm was intended to raise birds with the two-fold object of educa- ting the people as to the possibilities of game raising and of raising birds to be liberated to increase the wild game of the State. The revenue derived by the State from licenses, fines, etc., last year amounted to $175,000.00. The cost of operating the State Game Farm was $6,500.00. The State Game Farm has been a failure and is abandoned, but the foolish tax on pri- vate industry, the tax which prevents private individuals from engaging in game farming in California, still stands and is the law. If, as the report alleges, "the education of the people and the teaching of them that wild game can be successfully raised in captivity — has been accomplished", there can be no excuse for requiring the payment of a tax of $25.00 a year by any of the people so educated in game raising, who wish to raise game. No Californian would dare take a young animal or bird found in the wild and rear it in domesticity and with it, in a small way, start a game farm. Therefore, that law of Califor- nia, requiring a license, is a law enacted to bring about the extinction of wild life because it many times prevents and al- ways discourages game raising. What is said of the Califor- nia law is true of every law that requires a Hcense for the rearing or keeping of game. It is only by keeping game and game birds that their habits can be studied, and that intelli- gence can be used in determining the best methods of feeding, rearing and propagating their kind. The persons who make that study usually do it without the expectation of financial reward. They do it because their intelligence interests them 19 in life of all kinds. They devote time and observation to this study which results in untold wealth to the state, and any law which discourages them or forbids such study, by requiring that they obtain a license to feed some poHtical commissioner or game warden or support some useless political department, is a law to bring about the extinction of game, because you cannot expect one to devote time to such study and work if he is compelled to obtain a Hcense and to unwind red tape and to pay a fee and buy tags to enable him to do the work without being fined. The whole system of licensing, tagging and registration by game raisers is wrong. A man who wishes to rear wild game should be permitted and encouraged to do it. He should not be hampered or discouraged by any law or legislative condition. He should not be hindered by any commissioner or warden. It is argued that if the law permits one to have game in his possession and to sell, ship, or dispose of it as he disposes of cattle and poultry, it will afford law violators an opportunity to carry on an illegal traffic in wild life. That argument is not supported by reason. No license is required to raise sheep. Nevertheless sheep owners are not crying that all sheep rais- ers be licensed to prevent stolen sheep being placed on the market. It is much easier to find a sheep or hog and kill, carry away and sell it, than it would be to find a wild deer and kill and dispose of it. It is much easier to find a chicken and steal, kill and sell it, than it would be to kill a wild pheas- ant and sell it, yet one who would advocate that all persons who raised and kept chickens should be compelled to get a license, pay a game department a fee and attach a tag to each •dead chicken he sold to prevent stolen chickens being placed on the market, would be laughed out of the community. If tagging, licenses, permit and registration laws afforded protection to wild game, such laws would afford infinitely more protection to domestic fowl and their owners, but such 20 laws are not a protection. They are onerous and only result in keeping people from undertaking game raising. A COURT'S OPINION. Recently the Court of Appeals, being the highest Court of the State of New York, heard argued the two propositions that ignorant lecturers of the Hornaday-Kalbfus type are constantly advancing. In the case of People v. Buffalo Fish Co., 164 N. Y. 93, 52 L. R. A. 803, the Court of Appeals of New York was called upon to pass on the validity of a statute "forbidding any person to * * * be possessed of certain fish during the close season therein prescribed." The defend- ants bought fish in Canada to sell in New York and were charged with being possessed of them in New York. The Court held if the law covered the case and made criminal "being possessed of imported fish," it was unconstitutional and void because it was a violation of the interstate commerce provisions of the federal constitution. In deciding the case. Judge O'Brien, speaking for the court, said, "An act to pro- tect game orto promote health may be so framed and applied as to restrict and regulate traffic in some article of commerce, and when it does it is just as obnoxious as if passed for that purpose under a title expressing that very intent. * * * " "But it is argued that, unless the statute is construed to inhibit the possession during the closed season of fish imported from a foreign country, it cannot be enforced, but will be evaded by false swearing. This means that if the summer-hotel keep- er, the owner of the private pond, and the foreign importer, under the circumstances stated, are allowed to escape, then someone else may falsely pretend that his possession of fish during the close season was obtained in a similar manner, when in fact he is really guilty of violating the law by procuring them from the waters of the state. This argument seems to be based upon the notion that unless the innocent are con- 21 victed the guilty may escape. It assumes that in the interpre- tation of a penal statute, such a remote danger must be antici- pated and guarded against. I think it puts rather too much faith in the potency of perjury as a defense to an honest claim, and too little in the capacity of courts and juries to distinguish truth from falsehood. When it was proposed to change the criminal law and permit an accused person to testify in his own behalf, the proposition was for a long time resisted by similar arguments. It was said that the temptation to swear falsely under such circumstances was so great that crime could never be punished if the accused was permitted to testify in his own behalf, whereas experience has shown that a per- son on trial for a penal offense very rarely, if ever, helps his case by falsehood. Indeed, it may be safely asserted that the new law, instead of thwarting justice, as anticipated, has been a very great aid in the enforcement of the criminal law. There is not the slightest reason for giving a strained and unnatural construction to the statute in question in order to meet such an imaginary danger. The possession of the fish or game at the forbidden season, within this state, is prima facie evidence that the possessor has violated the law, and the burden is then cast upon him of proving facts to show that the possession was lawful. If he has no better defense than one based on falsehood, it will be entirely safe to trust to the power of cross-examination and the intelligence of the court and jury to detect and expose it, as in offenses of much greater magni- tude. * * * " "The main proposition, after all, in support of the plaintiff's contention, is based more upon policy and expediency than upon law. When fairly stated, it is this : A statute to protect fish and game within the state does not protect unless it inhibits the importation of fish and game from a foreign country or another state. When this proposi- tion is carefully examined, it will be found to be not only without any foundation in fact or in experience, but, when 22 applied to cases like the one in hand, the manifest tendency is to defeat the very object of the law, which, of course, must be assumed to be protection. The individual who is permitted to hunt and fish in Canada or in another state, and bring with him here the fruits of his labor, will do very much less of hunting and fishing at home. If his warfare upon game or fish is carried on in a foreign country or in another state, it would seem to be unwise to prevent him for the purpose of protecting fish and game at home. The game law that cuts off the supply from abroad diminishes, rather than increases and protects, the supply at home. Legislation that would prohibit the defendant from drawing a supply of fresh fish from Can- ada during the close season simply furnishes a strong tempta- tion to procure it from the waters of this state, even in viola- tion of law. It is said that there is a passion inherent in man to kill or capture game, in spite of penal laws forbidding it. If that be so, it would seem' to be wisdom to allow the passion to expend itself by permitting those who enjoy it to capture and become possessed of fish or game in Canada, or in other states where the law permits it, rather than furnish a tempta- tion to violate the law at home during the close season. To forbid the taking of fish in a foreign country or in another state, where it is lawful, by our own citizens, during the sea- son, or the possession within the state of what is so taken, tends to exterminate rather than protect fish here. The legis- lator who would protect the forests of this state by prohibit- ing the importation of lumber or timber from Canada or from other states would be rated as a visionary theorist, but in a certain degree that is the principle upon which the argument for the People in this case proceeds for the protection of fish and game. What is true with respect to the forests is equally true of every other natural product of the soil or of the waters of the state, so that it is plain that the plaintiff's theory of this case, when put into complete operation all around the boun- 23 daries of the state, would, instead of protecting fish and game, go far to exterminate both." DISTINGUISH WILD FROM PERSONALLY REARED GAME. The law should distinguish between wild game and game reared by private industry. The law must encourage game raising. It must attach no burdensome conditions to the busi- ness. It must permit the kiUing, selling and shipment by game raisers of the game raised by them at all times and under all circumstances without tags and without licenses. Since the enactment of the present law of Indiana, a little more than a year ago, thirty-five game farms have been established in Indiana, and there have been no complaints heard against the law or its effect. Can't you see that the Indiana law is what you need? PROPER LAWS. It is perfectly proper to enact laws making it criminal to kill wild game at such times and under such conditions as the law makers deem best, but such laws should explicitly exempt from their effect game raised in domesticity or captivity. All that is necessary to prevent confusion of wild game offered for sale with that raised on game farms is to follow the Indi- ana method which relieves the domestic raiser from the con- ditions applying to wild game and to its killing and handling and provides that when one is prosecuted for possessing or offering for sale any dead game, it is presumed to be wild game and to avoid a fine for violating the law the burden is on the accused to show that it was reared in captivity. How simple that is, and how impossible it would be for any one to show that wild game he had in his possession was reared in domesticity. 24 THE MODEL LAW. The Indiana law which is the law best adapted to conserve and increase our supply of game is in two sections. We urge its adoption by all legislative bodies. It is as follows : AN ACT TO ENCOURAGE GAME BREEDING. Section 1. That all birds and animals reared or bred by in- dividuals in domesticity or in captivity, shall be considered do- mestic stock and the owner or raiser thereof may keep, sell, ship, transport or otherwise dispose of them, and such stock shall not be affected or covered by any laws prohibiting or regulating the killing or disposition of birds and animals of the game kind grown or propagated in a wild state. Sec. 2. In any prosecution in which it is charged that any animal or bird has been illegally sold or transported or killed, proof of the possession of such bird or animal shall be prima facie evidence that such bird or animal was not reared by pri- vate industry or in captivity. The defendant in such case shall be permitted to show in his defense by deposition or otherwise that such bird or animal was raised in captivity or by private industry provided that the taking of depositions by the defend- ant in any such case shall be equivalent to an agreement and assent by him to the taking and use by the prosecution of depositions concerning the same matter and facts as to which the defendant's depositions are taken and used by him. RIGHTS OF THE FARMER. The time is passing when farmers who own and cultivate land will tolerate laws made solely to permit some loafer with a gun to tear down fences, destroy crops, shoot domestic ani- mals, kill human beings and outrage generosity for the pur- pose of calling himself a sportsman and killing game that the farmer's land has protected and the farmer's grain has fed. The time is passing when game will be permitted to become a public nuisance and destroy crops without giving the owner 25 of the crops a right to capture and domesticate the game and cause it to multiply and reproduce itself for the purpose of sale to give the farmer returns for his grain and time. Game commissioners are frequently like game in that they live on the farmer, bat unlike game, they do not contribute to his welfare or support by killing insects and devouring pests. The men who insist that they be given the right to kill, as sport, the game on the land of a farmer are never found at public offices offering to pay the taxes of the farmer on the land on which they have trespassed. EVERY HOUSEWIFE IS ENTITLED TO GAME AT REASONABLE PRICES. EVERY LABORER HAS A RIGHT TO HAVE GAME FOOD. The fine flavor of game should not be reserved for those who tramp over the land of others with a gun. Very few are financially so situated as to be able to spend time and money "going hunting." The clerk, laborer and mechanic who stay at home have the same right to taste game flavor as their more affluent "sportsmen" fellow men. Every housewife who goes to market should have an opportunity to purchase at reasonable rates the best of game. GAME FARMING PROTECTS WILD LIFE. Game farms will furnish their product so cheaply for the table that there will be no excuse for the game hog hunter. DEAD LETTER LAWS. It is proper to have men enforce the game laws, but you cannot enforce laws when it is apparent, or when it is gener- ally believed, the enforcement, and existence of the laws, is accounted for by the fact that some Game Warden gets paid and holds a job under the laws and that the enforcement and existence of the laws are but incidental to the furnishing of a 26 job to a Game Warden. The enforcement of game laws up to this time has been an impossibility because public senti- ment has been against the Game Warden and juries hold the opinion of the public and will not convict in game cases where the defendant is tried on a charge of violating game laws, with which the community is not in sympathy. On the other hand where game farming is conducted and where occasional- ly game escapes from the farm and becomes wild, everybody who has been interested in rearing the game or who has known of its rearing in his neighborhood is sentimentally op- posed to having it killed and the sentiment of that community favors the enforcement of the laws enacted to prevent the killing of wild game and the Sheriff and other Peace Officers of the community can and will enforce the game laws, juries drawn from the body of the community will punish violators of the game laws, and the necessity for so many Wardens will cease and as their number becomes less, the purpose of their creation will be better accomplished. GAME STOCKING. Large sums are expended by game departments for the pur- chase of wild animals and birds which are liberated to propa- gate their kind. With very few exceptions such attempts at stocking have resulted in failure. Let us apply to game the same kind of reasoning we would apply to ourselves. Sup- pose you were captured, nailed in a crate and shipped across country to some strange place where the crate was broken open by your captor and you were liberated. Do you think you would under such circumstances remain as close to your captor as it was possible? You would undoubtedly hasten away from that spot and go as far as you could travel. It is probable that because of your ignorance of the locality and its resources you would die of starvation, exhaustion and expos- ure. That is true of game. 27 The Helen Bartlett method is the only successful method that has been devised for stocking any district with game. She keeps game birds penned, obtains their eggs, hatches them under chickens, rears the birds with the mother hens to maturity, feeding and caring for them as she does young chickens, permitting them to come and go at their pleasure. They do not consider her an enemy. They learn as they grow up to look upon her as a friend. When they first leave their mother hen, it is only a few feet and at the suggestion of danger they hasten back to her protection. As they grow larger and stronger they become bolder and wander farther from her, from time to time hastening back, and then ventur- ing farther and farther away from her until at last they take to a wild state, leaving the mother hen permanently, but occasionally coming back to the yard where they were raised, because they know that there they can find feed. Birds so raised and permitted their liberty have the homing instinct for that place, are familiar with that locality, and consequently have ability to care for themselves and have friends who will feed them in inclement weather when otherwise they must starve. This method will successfully stock any community with game. It has the additional merit that every member of the family and every person connected with the place upon which the birds are reared considers such birds subjects for protection. The men of the family become interested in the work of the women in rearing them and plant grain in odd places upon which they can feed in the winter. The men and women of that community become attached to the birds and anxious to protect them, and a sentiment is thus created which finds its way into the jury box when any person is tried for having illegally killed the birds or their young, and this sentiment results in the conviction and punishment of the offenders and the strict enforcement of the laws made for the protection of wild birds. 28 Pheasants. REARING AND HATCHING. Anyone who can raise chickens can raise pheasants. The one is no more difficult than the other. General information as to the beauty of plumage, delicacy of flesh, history, etc., of pheasants can be found in encyclopedias and books without number. Therefore, I will only give a practical statement of the actual procedure that I believe best for the hatching and rearing of these birds. In captivity the pheasant does not usually set or nest. It lays wherever it may happen to be, usually about sundown, and consequently at that time it is best to avoid disturbing the pheasant hen unnecessarily. The eggs should be gathered frequently and not permitted to lay around the pheasant yard, because this bird at times is tempt- ed to eat its own eggs if they remain before it too long. For hatching the eggs the best results are obtained by using hens. Set your hens on the ground. Make a small depres- sion in the ground and use sod or cut straw or hay for nesting material. Where possible place the nest under bushes, under brush or other cover, where rain will not flood it. The eggs of different pheasants require different lengths of time for hatching. The Ringneck 24 days, Silver 27, Golden 21, Reeves 25, and Amherst 22. The eggs may be moistened from time to time just as one would moisten the eggs of chickens that are being hatched. Do not disturb the young chicks for 24 hours after they are hatched and unless the weather is very warm do not give 29 them any water until they are a week old. The first food for young pheasants may be hard boiled eggs and they should not be fed until they are 24 hours old, after which the boiled eggs can be grated for them through a piece of wire window screen and they should be fed four times a day, or every three hours, being careful to only feed them as much as they will clean up. Too much care cannot be taken to prevent over-feeding. It must always be kept in mind that the pheasant is a light eater and naturally a wild bird and requires only from one-tenth to one-twentieth part the amount that a chicken should be fed. Instead of boiled eggs the first food of the young may consist of hard boiled eggs and potatoes, both being thoroughly boiled in the same kettle until the potatoes are soft when the yolk of the egg will crumble. Mash the potatoes, using two parts of potatoes to one of egg. Use the same food the next day and the day after. You may then add a few leaves of lettuce, onion tops or millet. Keep plenty of green food before them. Feed in this manner for a few days until strong enough to run about. If it suits your convenience, you may scald thick sour milk until the whey and curd separate, then strain and use the dry curd, mixed with equal parts of ground hemp and canary seed, about four parts of curd to one of seed with very little pepper added. This should be staple food until they are six weeks old. Another food is wheat bread moistened with sweet milk and mixed with baked potatoes. Scalded corn- meal, cracked wheat or corn, hemp and canary seed whole, ripe tomatoes or any food used for little chicks will answer as they grow older. Never give pepper grass (sorrel) to pheas- ants. It is unhealthy for them. The pheasant naturally is very strong in flight. Confining pheasants was first accomplished by covering the pens or yards with wire netting, but the expense of that method was so great that pheasant raisers have abandoned it and instead of doing that many clipped one wing of its flight feathers to 30 ARE YOU INTERESTED IN GAME BREEDING? AH those who are interested in breeding and preserving game, are requested to communicate with the Game Breed- ing Department of the Hercules Powder Company. If you are looking for a market for your birds and eggs; if you are looking for someone from whom you can obtain good breeding stock; if you have land that can be used for a game preserve; if you want to insure good shooting for your- self near home; write to us, and we will try to solve your problem for you. Our Game Breeding Department is a clearing house for information on raising, marketing and shooting game. Let us assist you in forming a club that will furnish good sport to -all members. Our services are free. If you haven't read our books on Game Breeding write for them today, telling the particular phase of the subject that interests you. We will furnish them without charge. Game Breeding Dep't. HEUPULBS POWDEIl CO. Wilmington, Del. prevent flying, but the best and most successful raisers of these birds take a sharp shears, prepare a saucer filled with boracic acid or powdered calomel or even wood ashes, and take each chick when between four days and a week old and clip off one wing at the first. joint, immediately dipping the raw end of the wing into the powder and turning the bird loose. This is called pinioning. It has no injurious efifect on the birds, they recover quickly and it prevents their flying thereafter more than three or four feet in height and permits them to be confined in an uncovered garden or yard surround- ed by poultry netting fence. Birds raised to be liberated for stocking purposes should not be pinioned. During the breeding season the male pheasants are very jealous and inclined to fight. With them fighting is an im- portant matter. They frequently fight until one or the other is killed and occasionally until both are so injured that they are thereafter of no value. On that account as the breeding season approaches, the hens should be separated and placed in the pens where they are to lay and the males that are to be kept with any hens should also be separated, not more than one male being permitted in one pen. Those males that are not permitted to run with hens may be allowed to be together. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about pheasants to the person previously unacquainted with their habits is the fact that they will not live indoors as do chickens and other do- mestic fowl. Therefore, their houses should be made with walls on the east, west and north sides and with a roof, but the south side should be uncovered and open except that if one sees fit, the south side may be covered half way down with old window sashes with the glass in them. Plenty of perches should be placed in each house. To avoid rains and disagree- able winds, the birds will seek the house in daylight, but it is indeed very rarely that they will be found in the house at night. In the most inclement weather mine have slept out on 32 top of snow banks. In the winter season a feeding patch for them should be kept swept clean of snow where they can come for feed. Corn shocks may be provided for them as additional shelter in their yards and it would be well if a few pine trees or spruce trees grew in their yards with the dirt well banked up around the bottom of the trees so the pheas- ants can rest there on the dirt out of the wet. Care should be taken to avoid mites and lice with pheas- ants, whether young or old, and particularly with the young, and where it is deemed necessary they should be greased. The pheasant seems to be fairly free from disease, but occa- sionally a hard scaly substance Hke a wart or a corn grows on the legs, making the bird lame. Where that is found, a little olive oil rubbed on them will cause them to fall off in a short tiine. If a pheasant should develop a cold, be very careful not to give it water, except at long intervals. These birds are insect exterminators. That constitutes a very large part of their food and as a consequence they are very beneficial in a garden. They do not dig up a garden like hens. Any person contemplating raising these birds should not be fearful that it is a difficult task or that he will not be successful. We have much better results with our pheasants than with any other fowl we raise. In handling pheasants, they should be caught with a scap net for the reason that their legs are very long and very Hable to breakage and the chances are altogether too great of breaking their legs to make it wise to catch them in the hands or in any other way than with such a net. Pheas- ants should have sunny yards and lots of shade. The Ringneck pheasant attains its full plumage in five to seven months. The female lays from 50 to 120 eggs per sea- son. The eggs hatch in 24 days. The birds breed the spring following the year in which they are hatched, and one male will mate with from one to six hens. The Amherst attains full plumage in its second year, lays 30 to 40 eggs in a season, 33 breeds the first year if a young hen is mated with a two-year- old male. They mate one male with from one to three hens and the eggs hatch in 22 days. The Reeves attains its full plumage the first year, lays 35 to 40 eggs per season, breeds the second year and mates one male to not exceeding three hens and the eggs hatch in 25 days. The Golden gains its full plumage the second year, the eggs hatch in 21 days, it lays 25 to 35 eggs per season and breeds the first year if an old male is mated with young hens. It mates one male to not exceeding five hens. The Silver attains its full plumage in the second year, lays 45 to 50 eggs per season, breeds the sec- ond year and mates in pairs. The eggs hatch in 27 days. SHIPPING PHEASANTS. The most practical shipping coop for pheasants is a wooden box 15 inches high, in which are bored a lot of holes lj4 inches in diameter in the sides and top. The top holes are import- ant that the expressman may see the box contains live-stock, and not handle it like a football. I find the birds keep very peaceful in this coop, peeping out of a hole and inhaling fresh air, whereas canvas coops are hot and birds are compelled to inhale foul air, which makes them restless and feverish. Ex- press companies handle wooden coops at single rates, but if canvas is used double rates are charged. We have shipped across continent in wooden coops arriving in fine shape. In- stead of water, cooked potatoes and apples are put in coop. Wire or lath coops are out of place for shipping. I do not approve of water in shipping coops. It's bound to spill. SCURFY LEGS Is a disease sometimes communicated by chickens to pheas- ants. Treatment for it is very simple. The legs may be soaked in warm water, and the crusts removed and the legs washed with carboHc soft soap such as is made for dogs. 34 Experts in England recommend common paraffin as a certain cure. It is applied by pouring it well over the legs once each week until the cure is effected. No scurfy legged chicken should be used to hatch pheasants. Copies of this work furnished for $1.00 each. Advice given free as to the best place to buy and sell game. The Game Bird Society South Bend, Indiana. 35 HELEN BAI^TLETT'S AD. I raise — Pheasants Peacocks Quail Black Siberian Hares Guineas and Turkeys Also the following Chickens: Black Langshan Light Brahmas S. C. Rhode Island Reds Buff Cochin and Light Brahma Bantams I only sell pure blooded birds, raised from non- related stock. HELEN BARTLETT R. F. D. CASSOPOLIS, MICH. 36 HELEN BARTLETT'S AD. GUINEAS. Until the past ten years the guinea was despised. Farmers and fanciers were inclined to make little of them. They are an excellent example of the truth that merit will win. The guinea when cooked has game flavor and is served in many high class establishments as game under different names. Within the last five years epicures have noted that the guinea served to them as an imitation of something else was far more palata- ble than the flesh for which it was substituted. This has brought caterers to a realization of the real value of the bird. The guinea is now usually served under its own name. It is the only bird that is steadily advancing in price. This advance has continued uninterruptedly for the last ten years and in our opinion will continue. The guinea being more agreeable to the taste and having a richer flavor, is bound to take the place of most game dishes. Wild game served can never be guar- anteed to be satisfactory for the reason that the hunter has no chance to select as to age or condition. He may kill and you may be served a bird so aged that it is manual labor to eat it. With the guinea it is different for it will be raised by persons who will save the old stock for breeding and will place on the market only birds that are not over seven months old, for when young they bring the highest price. One guinea rooster will mate with three hens. Each hen will lay sixty eggs in a season. The guinea like the pheasant eats very little and is very hardy, but unlike the pheasant it requires housing in winter. There are two kinds of guineas, the white and the pearl. I raise both and find Uttle difference in them. I will furnish guineas for breeding at $1.50 per bird, or I will furnish eggs at $1.50 per setting in settings of 15 each. The eggs can be hatched under the guineas or under chickens. No fencing is required for guineas if you have range for them. They do not require any different treatment than chickens. HELEN BARTLETT H. F. D. 0A.880P0L/IS, MIOH. 37 HELBX BARTLBTT'S AD. CHICKENS. Many people are raising chickens for fancy purposes, believ- ing it will bring them fancy prices. The old story of getting something for nothing. It cannot win. I have fancy chickens and I can furnish them at fancy prices to people who are willing to pay for them after I have fully informed them that all I guarantee is fine feather markings and prizes won for the same. I have been engaged also in breeding chickens for some time with a view of obtaining chickens that lay when other chickens do not lay. That's the kind of chickens I want to propagate. I have given much time to the subject and have perfected strains of Rhode Island Reds, Black Lang- shans, Light Brahmas and Buff Cochin Bantams that lay. That's what you want if you want chickens. I sell them at ordinary prices, a little higher than market prices because I must select and crate them. These strains will bring good chickens for early market if that is desired and will bring eggs when others fail. I sell birds of any of the above kinds. TURKEYS. I use the WHITE HOLLAND TURKEY, it has many ad- vantages.. My stock is carefully bred under scientific rules and is bred for health and hardiness. I get results. I have never bred turkeys for markings or overweight. I want good weight and strength. I have it. I will sell you birds at $7.00 for Toms and $5.00 for hens, or eggs for setting at $3.00 per 9 eg-gs. BANTAMS. Excellent Buff Cochin and Light Brahma Bantams. They lay well, are hardy, are excellent pheasant mothers and well adapted for city propagation where only a small yard is avail- able. Our price is $1.50 each. HELEN BARTLETT R. F. D. OASSOPOLia, MIOH. 38 HELEfiJ BAltTLETT'S AD. EGGS. Different breeds of chickens produce eggs greatly differing in value. Four eggs laid by a Light Brahma or Black Lang- shan are worth five eggs laid by a Campine, Leghorn or Buff Orpington, and nine eggs of a Light Brahma or Black Lang- shan are equal to ten eggs of a Rhode Island Red or Plymouth Rock. If you want to work up a fancy price trade in eggs you can do it by furnishing big eggs. The weight of pullet eggs is as follows : Light Brahma eggs weigh 2^ oz. each Black Langshan eggs weigh 2j/2 oz. each Rhode Island Red eggs weigh 2j4 oz. each Plymouth Rock eggs weigh 2 J4 oz. each Buff Orpington eggs weigh 2 oz. each Leghorn eggs weigh 2 oz. each Campine eggs weigh 2 oz. each Buff Cochin Bantam eggs weigh. ... 1 oz. each WEIGHT. One-half of all the fowls hatched are roosters. The bigger the roosters the more money they bring. The Light Brahma is the largest of all chickens. The roosters when full grown and fat weigh 12 pounds. Black Langshans weigh 10 pounds. For medium weight the Rhode Island Red is the best chicken of its class. CLASSES. We sell the chickens that lead in their respective lines. We sell the Light Brahma, Black Langshan, Rhode Island Reds and Buff Cochin and Light Brahma Bantams. HELEN BARTLETT R. F. D. OASSOPOLIS, MIOH. 39 CUTS FOR SALE BY JOHN W. TALBOT, SOUTH BEND, IND *-^-''*:- Cut No, 9. Price $1 00. (Reeves Pheasant,) Cut No. 10, Price $1.50, (Peacock,) CUTS FOR SALE BY JOHN W. TALBOT, SOUTH BEND. IND. Cut No. 11. Price $1.50. (Reeves Pheasant.) Cut No. 12. Price $2.00. (Day Old Ring Neck Pheasant Chick.)