DUCK-FARMING IN ENGIAND. 



569 



" The majority of the duck fatters are small 

 occupiers, and a report presented to the last 

 Royal Commission on Agriculture in 1895, 

 written by Mr. Aubrey Spencer, Assistant 

 Commissioner, summarises the methods still 

 adopted in Bucks and Beds. 



The persons who engage in duck fattening are 

 generally men of the labouring or small village trades- 

 man class. The number of ducklings reared and sold 

 annually by individuals varies from a few hundred to 

 several thousands. The ducks require constant care 

 and attention all through the spring months, and no 

 one who rears a large number has, during that period, 

 time to engage in any other work ; but where a com- 

 paratively small number are reared the female portion 

 of the household may do most of the necessary work. 

 Many of those engaged in rearing, however, find time to 

 carry on some other occupation in the autumn months, 

 such as shoe-making, or at any rate can earn a little 

 extra money by harvesting and occasional agricultural 

 work. At Weston Turville I was told that about eleven 

 men in that village fattened 1,000 ducks apiece annually, 

 and that about 16,000 or 17,000 were sent from there to 

 London in a year. As a rule the duck fatteners do not 

 themselves keep stock ducks, but buy eggs from farmers 

 or others who keep breeding ducks, so that the breeding 

 and rearing are in different hands. 



It is a main object of the duck fattener to bring out 

 as many young ducks as he can ready for the market in 

 February or early in March, when the game season is 

 over, and the highest prices are obtainable for duck- 

 lings. The season for ducklings commences in February 

 and continues till about the end of August, the prices 

 falling as the year advances. In February or March as 

 much as £\ is. a couple is occasionally obtained for 

 ducklings, and one fattener at Weston Turville 

 informed me that in 1894 he had obtained the very 

 exceptional price of 24s. for a couple, which was the 

 highest figure he had ever reached. The average in 

 March is more usually about 12s. or 14s. the couple. 

 The carriage and salesman's commission (5 per cent.) 

 for the ducklings are reckoned at about 3d. a bird, and 

 duck fatteners commonly estimated that after deducting 

 carriage and commission they would receive on the 

 average throughout the season about 3s. to 3s. 3d. a 

 duck. I am, however, inclined to think that this 

 estimate is rather under than over the mark, for in 

 August, when I visited the district, prices were still as 

 high as 6s. to 7s. a couple. 



" Large quantities are now produced around 

 Diss in Norfolk, where the system is very similar 

 to that followed in Buckinghamshire, in Lincoln- 

 shire, and North Lancashire ; and recently many 

 ducklings have been produced in Cornwall, 

 where for climatic reasons there may probably 

 be a great development in process of time. At 

 many of these places the system adopted does 

 not call for any special mention ; but two cases 

 afford an excellent example of what can be 

 done by other methods, and may perhaps be 

 regarded as the most advanced duck farms in 

 the country. 



" The first of these duck-farms is at Bourne 

 Hall, near Poulton-le-Fyldc, in North Lanca- 

 shire, and is owned by Mr. Peter Walsh, who 



possesses the most extensive duck-farm at the 

 present time in this country. Mr. Walsh has 

 occupied his farm, which comprises about 285 

 acres, for twelve years. It consists of a clay 

 loam, and is situated a mile from the sea, about 

 five miles from Fleetwood, and six miles from 

 Blackpool. The farm is largely pasture, and 

 the other members of the Walsh family devote 

 themselves to dairying, selling the milk, about 

 sixty-five cows being kept. Eleven years ago 

 Mr. Walsh, who had read a great deal about 

 duck-fattening in the South Midlands of 

 England, determined to try whether it was 

 possible to establish an industry in his district. 

 For two years he worked against manifest dis- 

 advantages from inexperience, and at the end of 

 that time was so discouraged that he gave it up. 

 But a year afterwards he commenced again. 

 The first season he hatched, reared, and fatted 

 slightly under 2,000 ducklings, steadily advanc- 

 ing since year by year, until during the season 

 of 1901 he hatched and reared 25,000 ducklings, 

 in addition to which he purchased nearly 5,000 

 more to feed off. Such an industry is worthy 

 of careful observation, because there can be no 

 question that Mr. Walsh has made it profit- 

 able, and some of his methods have been con- 

 siderably modified since he first began his 

 enterprise. 



" Mr. Walsh now keeps no breeding ducks 

 whatever, but as a result of the demand created 

 by him (especially as his example has been 

 followed by others in the district), a very much 

 greater number of ducks are kept throughout 

 that part of Lancashire, the farmers finding it 

 profitable to keep the ducks, and to sell the 

 eggs to Mr. Walsh's (and other) collectors. 

 These collectors go round regularly to the 

 farms, and attend the markets almost as far as 

 Lancaster and Preston. Whilst the majority of 

 the birds are largely of Aylesbury blood, there 

 has been a good deal of Pekin influence intro- 

 duced into the district, and Mr. Walsh believes 

 that the cross between the Aylesbury and the 

 Pekin gives the best results for his class of 

 trade. He does not attempt to produce first- 

 class ducklings, such as still come from Bucks 

 and Beds, especially as his demand is chiefly 

 in Lancashire and Yorkshire, where the prices 

 obtainable in London during the spring months 

 of the year are not paid. But it is impossible 

 for him to obtain sufficient eggs from the 

 immediate district, and therefore he buys more 

 wherever he can secure them, obtaining a goodly 

 number from Ireland, as well as from the south 

 of England. These longer-distance eggs are 

 not nearly so good for hatching as those pro- 

 duced in the immediate district, and give him 



