576 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



houses, cool houses, a grain house, a cooking 

 house, incubator rooms, etc., and has an engine 

 to pump water, cut bone, and do other work 

 needing power. In the swing of the season, 

 two tons of grain are used every day. The 

 rest of the farm {i.e. not used by the ducks) 

 is occupied in growing vegetables and green 

 crops for them, which are immense, owing to 

 the manure. Grass and rye mostly serve till 

 late in the year, and when this fails the food 

 is mixed with 20 per cent, of boiled turnips, 

 beets, or carrots, except that two or three times 

 a week they are given raw cabbages and turnips 

 cut up. The breeders on this ranche have no 

 ponds, but the egg-average is reckoned at 150 ; 

 and in 1896, when they were carefully tabu- 

 lated, the ducklings hatched amounted to 58 

 per cent, of the eggs put down. 



The Trenton Farm, New Jersey, has mar- 

 keted 20,000 to 30,000 ducklings for several 

 years, but there are no details of special 

 interest ; neither have we seen any of nearly 

 a dozen plants on a similar scale which might 

 be cited. Mr. Charles Stauffer, of Harrisburg, 

 Pa., hatched 30,280 in 1899, and actually 

 raised just over 27,000 of them, figures which 

 are interesting as illustrating the small mor- 

 tality under good management. And Mr. 

 W. H. Truslow, of Stroudburg, Pa., whose 

 output is about 20,000, may be mentioned on 

 account of his exceptional feeding — he feeds 

 his ducklings on Spratt for the first five days, 

 and half Spratt for the next five, after which 

 the birds have about the usual rations. 



It will be seen that American methods 

 and results are well worthy of attentive study. 

 It does not appear that in all points those 

 results are superior. These breeders never 

 possessed such Aylesbury stock as produces 

 tender birds of 4 lbs. and more at eight weeks 

 old ; and we have seen also that of late British 

 raisers have marketed Pekin crosses which 

 have equalled the American average weight at 

 ten weeks. But still heavier Pekin ducklings 

 could be produced if there were demand 

 for them ; and when we read of breeding 

 drakes weighing 12 lbs. and ducks 8 lbs. to 

 10 lbs., yarded in such flocks, and with such 

 ^gg-averages, it is impossible not to be struck 

 by the advance due to systematic breeding, 

 according to a real "utility" standard. That 

 these immense establishments breed their own 

 stock, are self-contained and self-sufficient for 

 all their wants except grain food, and occupy 

 to profit permanent buildings of such a char- 

 acter, is also noteworthy. It by no means 

 follows that in the milder climate of England 

 such expensive plant is either necessary or 



desirable ; but the importance of green food in 

 the system, and the fact that the stock has 

 been bred to such perfection by the great 

 raisers themselves (who know the bird they 

 want), will not fail to be remarked. 



Very little need be said in regard to Con- 

 tinental duck-raising. By feeding with rice, 

 and oatmeal, and white fat, more or less mixed 

 with milk, some of the ducks fed in France 

 and Belgium are made as smooth and white 

 in skin as a La Fleche capon, and have 

 attracted some attention at the Smithfield 

 Table Poultry shows ; but this kind of finish, so 

 far as we can learn in the markets, is not much 

 valued in England. In curious contrast to this 

 is the fact that the celebrated French ducklings 

 from the Rouen district, being killed by sheer 

 suffocation (the bill being held shut and the 

 nostrils covered) pluck dark and discoloured : 

 but the black carbonized blood thus retained is 

 held to give a higher flavour. More practically 

 suggestive is the fact that these birds are with- 

 out keel, and are fed so that the breast is full and 

 level. That has a considerable value. In none 

 of these ducks have we seen much evidence of 

 distinctive race ; but by care in selecting the 

 stock of the district, they have been bred 

 successfully for the same deep flesh on the 

 breast which American breeders have so 

 developed in the Pekin. 



ORNAMENTAL DUCKS. 



There are a large number of wild or natural 

 varieties of ducks which are occasionally seen 

 at exhibitions, and some of which are amongst 

 the most beautiful in plumage to be found in 

 the feathered world. These are bred more 

 often by amateurs in Holland and Germany, 

 and even in France, than in England, where 

 less attention seems at present given to this 

 class of birds than was even the case some 

 years ago. We can remember seeing at Bir- 

 mingham about 187s really large classes 

 of Black East India ducks, another good 

 class of Mandarins and Carolinas, another 

 of Call ducks, and yet another for any other 

 variety : now the single class last mentioned 

 is the only one generally found at even the 

 largest shows. Some day perhaps the great 

 beauty of many of these birds may revive 

 their popularity. 



They are not as a rule very easy to breed 

 successfully, which may be one reason for their 

 present scarcity ; but any difficulty in merely 

 keeping them has been exaggerated. One or 

 two pairs may be kept in a comparatively small 

 space, with a small pond ; but, unlike other 

 ducks, these kinds must have clean or fresh 



