572 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



weather some canvas is hung on to the netting 

 to afford a little shelter. 



" The feeding is as follows : A mixture is 

 made of barley meal, 4 parts ; middlings, 3 parts ; 

 bran, 2 parts ; maize meal, i part ; and tallow 

 greaves, one-eighth part in bulk. The food is 

 thoroughly mixed and prepared crumbly moist, 

 and it is kept always before the birds. It is 

 either put down upon the ground or upon sacks, 

 never fed from troughs. Mr. Murrell says that 

 the mixture given above is properly propor- 

 tioned, and that is of great importance. Water 

 is supplied, but not as much as the birds would 

 drink. As with those of Mr. Walsh, they are 

 not allowed to swim in water, from the time 

 they are hatched until they are killed, nor are 

 they given as much as they care to drink, only 

 a small quantity being supplied in tins about 

 6 inches deep ; it is stated that if they are given 

 more than that they will not eat nearly so well. 

 The weights attained are as follows : Nine 

 weeks, 5i to 6 lbs. ; ten weeks, 6 to 7 lbs., and 

 they are killed at this stage. The breeds chiefly 

 preferred are a cross between the Aylesbury 

 and Pekin. Rouens and coloured ducks are 

 not liked, because they are too dark in flesh. 

 It is claimed that the Aylesbury and Pekin cross 

 are a better shape and stronger than the pure 

 Aylesbury. The greatest care is taken with the 

 feathers of the ducks, and it is stated that these 

 cover all expenses of labour, buying, selling, 

 rearing, killing, and plucking. Considering the 

 prices at which first-class duck feathers can be 

 sold, this statement appears to be nearly correct. 

 The birds are killed by breaking the neck, and 

 are plucked immediately. They are shaped on 

 flat boards, breast downwards. 



"Duringthe month of August, I90i,therewere 

 5,000 birds upon this place, and at that period of 

 the year 500 were being marketed every week.* 

 The labour employed in killing, plucking, and 

 packing, consisted of two men and five girls, and 

 four men were employed in attending to the live 

 birds. All the ducks are sent to one firm of 

 dealers in the Central Market, London, and Mr. 

 Murrell speaks of the treatment he has received 

 from that firm in the highest terms. He states 

 that the profit made upon the enterprise is 

 equal to 6d. per bird. 



" One of the most surprising points, and one 

 which will appeal to multitudes of farmers 

 throughout the country, is the effect upon the 



* It should be stated that this was far the highest number ; 

 and in fact the total for the entire season only reached 8,000, 

 there being very few comparatively during the earliest and 

 latest monttis. h will be obvious that if 5,000 were an ordinary 

 number all through the season the acreage stated would not 

 suffice for each pen to occupy the ground only one week in five 

 years. More land is, however, available if required for extension. 



land itself. During my visit to this farm I was 

 accompanied by one of the best farmers in the 

 Woodbridge district, who knows the land very 

 well ; and he was astonished at the result. As 

 already explained, each pen is enclosed within 

 50 yards of wire netting, 100 to 200 ducks 

 being put into one of these pens, not so much 

 according to the size, as to the number on hand 

 at the time. They are kept there for a week, 

 and then removed on to fresh ground. In that 

 time every particle of grass is eaten off, and it 

 might be thought that it would be destroyed. 

 The change in the parts over which the birds 

 have run is the most remarkable feature of the 

 whole place. A week after the birds are re- 

 moved, during at any rate the growing periods 

 of the year, the ground is thickly covered with 

 the finest grass, of a rich green colour, and thus 

 from a poor useless piece of common land, a 

 magnificent meadow has been made. It is not 

 intended to put the ducks upon the saine piece 

 of ground again for five years. The land will 

 be in grass during that time, and it is supposed 

 that no more manure will be needed. It will be 

 seen that this is rather antagonistic to Mr. 

 Walsh's opinion that the effect is exhausted in 

 two years, and probably one or the other may find 

 it necessary to modify his opinion. f However, 

 during the past season, in the prolonged drought, 

 when there was no hay in the district generally, 

 Mr. Murrell cut from 2^ acres ten tons of the 

 finest meadow hay. It is evident from both 

 statements that the manure from ducks specially 

 feeds the finer qualities of grass, and enables 

 these to displace the coarser growth. 



" A year or two ago a somewhat pretentious 

 attempt was made in Kent to establish another 

 duck farm upon a large scale. Its manager had 

 induced a gentleman living in Kent to invest 

 about iJ^2,ooo, very fine buildings being put 

 up, large numbers of birds imported from 

 America, and American incubators used. The 

 returns, however, in hatching and rearing did 

 not equal expectations, and up to the present 

 this could not be cited as a successful duck 

 farm. It has now passed into other hands, and 

 its future will be watched with considerable 

 interest." 



In each of the recent developments here 

 described American methods have obviously 

 exerted considerable influence ; and in this 

 branch also of the poultry industry the greatest 

 development has been in the United States, 

 where there are numerous establishments that 

 market from 10,000 to 15,000 birds annually, 



t Mr. Murrell means m grass. Mr. Walsh probably means 

 under arable cropping, which Mr. Murrell also believes would 

 probably require fresh manure in two or three years. — I. W. 



