The general popularity of venison is so great and the demand for it so widespread that over-production is improbable. The other products of the deer--skins and horns--are of considerable importance, and in countries where deer are abundant and especially where large herds are kept in semi-domestication, the commerce in both is very extensive. THE DOMESTICATION OF DEER. A number of species of the deer family have been proved to be susceptible to domestication. The reindeer, however, is the only one that has been brought fully under the control of man. The fact that the European red deer and the fallow deer have been bred in parks for centuries without domestication does not prove that they are less susceptible to the process than the reindeer. The purposes for which they have been held captive and the environment given them have been markedly different. It must be remembered, also, that few attempts have been made to rear and domesticate deer under intelligent management. The work has been largely a matter of chance experiment. If they had been as long under careful management as cattle, they would now, probably, be equally plastic in the hands of a skillful breeder. But raising deer for profit does not necessarily imply their complete domestication. They may be kept in large preserves with surroundings as nearly natural as possible and their domestication entirely ignored. Thus the breeder may reap nearly all the profit that could be expected from a domestic herd, while the animals escape most of the dangers incident to close captivity. But the breeder who aims at the ultimate domestication of the animals, and whose herd approaches nearest to true domesticity, will in the end be most successful. SPECIES TO BE SELECTED FOR BREEDING. The number of species of deer suited for breeding in inclosures in the United States is great, though the chances for success are by no means the same for all. As a rule those native to America are to be preferred, since they are already acclimated. In selecting any species, similarity between its natural habitat and that to which it is to be transferred must be considered. Important, also, is its adaptability to varied conditions, as shown by former attempts to acclimatize it. Unless they have shown a peculiar adaptability to such change, deer should not be taken from arid parts of the United States to humid parts. To a disregard of this principle are probably due many of the failures that have attended experiments in breeding the American antelope, the Columbia blacktail deer, the moose, and other animals in places differing widely from their natural ranges.