242 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



Early varieties of sweet peas are often good sellers. It is best 

 to confine ones self to a few distinct colors, and specialize on those 

 as to earliness, size and long stems. Small baskets of pansies, with 

 their stems buried in wet sand or moss, invariably find friends, as 

 do many other sorts of flowers suitable for cutting. 



Gladioli are steady profit-producers in the hands of some. 

 The cut flowers may be sold to the city florist and the bulbs to the 

 seed and bulb man, but here, too, one must become a specialist, 

 choose a few named varieties, then study their needs and conform to 

 them. Peonies and dahlias, and even the universally grown 

 nasturtium, can be made to yield a fair profit, with measure full 

 and running over of pleasure. In every neighborhood there is room 

 for one or two growers of common bedding plants, like pansies, 

 verbenas, petunias, asters, salvias and other like favorites. With 

 a pit one can sprout cannas and dahlias, which are likely to prove 

 good sellers. 



None of these things should be taken up without due thought 

 and a proper working knowledge of the requirements necessary to 

 produce flowers or plants of real merit; it all means work, and a 

 good deal of it, and sometimes failure, but patience, knowledge and 

 determination will finally win. 



The main factor of success is to have your flowers just a little 

 earlier, a little larger and a little more perfect than the average, 

 and to put them before prospective customers attractively. 



INDIAN RUNNER DUCKS. 



(Mrs. Scott Cunningham, Palmyra, Mo.) 



So much has been written about Indian Runner Ducks, their 

 splendid laying qualities and so on — some of them more or less 

 exaggerated — that the subject seems well-nigh exhausted. How- 

 ever, I feel quite assured that what information I have to contribute 

 will not go down into history as having revolutionized the poultry 

 industry of the twentieth century, so I will write just as briefly and 

 truthfully as possible my own experience with them. 



The Indian Runner Duck craze, like that of the Belgian hare, 

 seems to have become quite a fad the past few years, but will prove 

 to be more lasting, as the raising of them is more practical. 



I "caught the fever" some years ago while visiting in another 

 state, and immediately upon my return we purchased a trio of light 

 fawn and white Indian Runners of the very best stock. 



Having had no experience whatsoever in raising any kind of 

 a duck, I eagerly devoured every poultry magazine article upon the 



