The record-union., 1891-06-29

bidder who can furnish satisfactory
guarantees as to. financial responsibility.
The lessee then becomes responsible,
not only for the proper care of the game
III the fields and woods covered by his
lease, but also for whatever damage the
game lnfiict upon growing crops.
Should the hares iniure the beets and
turnIps, or the deer from the adjacent
forest trespass upon the wheat or rye
nelds, the farmer summons the two COM
munal assessors appointed for that pur-
pose, who examine the premises and
estimate the amount of damage, which
the lessee of the shooting is required to
pay. If he finds the tax excessive, he
may nominate q third member of the
board and call for a reappraiSement of
the damage. The lessee also employees a
local gamekeeper, who earns a yearly
salary ranging from $500 to $500. and
whose business it is to look after the
game, kill foxes, hawks, and other car
nivorols creatures. and prevent poach-
ing; .,
universal respect for the rights of prop
erty in this country and the absence of
that lawless predatory spirit which per-
vades some less strictly governed COM
munities than the entire immunity from
irregular depredations which is secured
to partridges, pheasants, hares, rabbits
=
diate neighborhood OF populous German
villages. The peasant farmer is satisfied
with a system which secures to him full
cash value for all the game which his
land may produce, as well as prompt
payment for whatever damage the same
may intlict upon his crops, and at the
same time protects his fields from tres
pass by unauthorized persons or at
seasons when the grain and grass might
| be injured thereby, for the game laws
carefully prohibit field shooting until
such crops are gathered.
IAN important feature of the protective
system is the law which fOrbidS any per
son from hunting or using Il gun unless
he is provided with the legal JttdgpdSS, or
license. This license is issued by the
| local magistrate in each district to appli-
cants Of good standing, who HliSt be rot
less than 10 years of age. and, if under u
years, must be vouChed for by some re-
SpOnsible person. The pass Is for one
year, costs from - cents TO s., according
TO the varying regulations OF the differ
ent provinces, and bears on its reverse
side checkered design showing the
open and close months Of the year Tor
each kind Of game. To be found outside
Of ones own premises with rifle or
! fowling-piece and without a JadgpdSS in
wolves the cOniisc2tiOn Of gun and ac-
cOUtermenSs. This arrangement eilectu-
and the predatory small boy with tie
! cheap shotgun, who have been so de-
Structiye TO singing birds, as well as to
furred and teathered game, in some other
countries"
Mr.. Mason suggests that, SIS the climate
Of Germany does not differ essentially
from that of the Northern and Middle
States of this country, it would be easy to
! transplant some Of the varieties of game
mentioned above and grow them success
| fully here. After all that has been so
successfully done in our country to re-
stock the inland lakes and streams with
fish, he concludes, there ought to be
some way Of restoring, in measure, the
game birds and animals which were
formerly so abundant and which have be-
come, through indiscriminate shooting,
so rare to the spOrtsmen, so costly in our
markets. This can only be done by max
ing preservation easy, inexpensive, and,
withal, profitable TO owners of the land.
! The German system has made game
abundant throughout the empire and
yields an important income to the class
which is in most need of it.
The experimenting would need
to be systematic, but not necessarily eX-
penSiye. a dozen pairs of partridges,
pheaSantS and hareS, imported from Ger
many or Austria, turned loose on almost
any American farm and protected from
moleStation three or four years, would
multiply so that they would thereafter
hold their own against any reasonable
and sportsmanlike pursuit The larger
the territory included in such expert
ment, the more certain would be its
success