Morris tribune., 1902-03-29
QUAIL FARM PLANNED.
Novel Industry Started by an
Indiana Farmer.
NOT AFFECTED BY THE GAME LAW,

4 NOT AFFECTED BY THE GAME Law
Demonstrated Fowl, He Is Told
Would Not Come Under Statute
4 which Protects wild Birds-Thinlxs
There Is More Money In Bolowhites
Than In Grain.
Harley Smith, wealthy farmer NV
ing near Portland, Jay county, Ind.
has found new avenue for his enter.
prise, and his farm Of 400 acres is to
be given over in the near future en-
tirely to raising quail, says dispatch
from Indianapolis to the Chicago Rec
Ord-Herald. He has been experiment.
ing for the last three years and has
come to the conclusion that quail can
be domesticated and can be made de.
cidedly more profitable than any other
kind of fowls, both on account Of the
rapidly with which they multiply and
the little trouble and expense it will
require to prepare them for market.
AS means Of starting his new in
dustry he has not permitted a gun to
be fired on his land for four years and
has seen the good results Of this policy
in the gradual tanning Of the quail till
now they will come around his barn
yard and eat with the chickens. He
says there is marked difference in
the coveys out in the fields and near
the house, for when they are approach
ed in the fields they appear to be very
Wild, but in the barnyard they come
about him and pick up the grain and
appear to have lost all their wild ma
ture.
This applies to the birds that live out
in the fields and that he terms wild,
but his experiments with one brood
which he raised by setting the eggs I'M
der a hen and bringing up with the
barnyard fowls have convinced him
they may be as completely homestead
ed as chickens and ducks, and he has
decided to enter the business on scale
that will test it's practicability and
prove whether there is really any mon
ey in it. .s#
In order to do this he will secure the
eggs of the quail on his place this sum-
mer and hatch them in an incubator
and thus begin the demonstration at
once and before the birds have become
wild. He will keep the females for fu-
lure broods and sell only part Of the
males, and he hopes to have not fewer
than 1,50O egg producing birds when |
The season Of 1908 opens. These broods |
will be raised for market, but the stock |
will gradually be increased if the re- /
suits are satisfactory, and in time he |
will give his entire attention to the In
1ustry
Mr.. Smith has recently consulted
awyer at Portland and has received a
construction Of the game laws of the
tate which he believes will permit him
O, take advantage Of q market which
fords the highest price for quail. Un-
Ter the Indiana law the quail hunting
weeks, and heavy penalties are fixed
or even having q bird in ones possess
ion at any other time, the courts hav.
ng gone so far as to punish persons
Who sold quail out Of season, though it
vas proved that they were killed in the
uniting season and kept in cold stor'
ge.
Mr.. Smiths attorney has advised him
hat the law applies only to wild birds
nd that if Quails are domesticated or |
re so reared that they never become
hid they are not game" within the !
leaning Of the law, and the raiser
7ould have the right to kill them and
lace them Oh the market at any time
uring the year.
AS he is now inhibited from killing
nd exposing for sale except from Nov. :
0 to Jan. 1 Of each year Mr.. Smith | Q
links prices would be much better
9th before and after this time, and it
this demand that he is arranging to.
leet. Ia
81 have investigated the subject thor :
ughly," said he the other day, "and 5
% convinced that there is more mon
7 in good quail farm than there is in :
the ordinary crops. The :
roods average anywhere from twenty :
thirty, the birds are easily raised, &
I'd there is always greater demand 5
ian supply. am in direct communf-
alton with the markets of Chicago, 5
Cincinnati and many 9th s
cities, and if the domesticated birds Q,
in be sold when the wild birds are :
1t Of season I can get a much better
ice than is paid now. find that the
INVESTIGATED bird is larger also than
lie wild bird, and this will be in my
lvor. 1 believe can have 1000 to
500 ready for market in January, 5
IO3. and l can more than double that b