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 oto. 



KAISIKG 



at the watering-places when prices are highest. The 

 impression that a pond or brook is necessary to raise the 

 ducklings is erroneous. They need no more water than 

 chickens until they are three months old, and are better 

 off without any pond to swim in. We have raised fifty 

 in a season in a quarter-acre yard, and found them no 

 more troublesome than chickens. The best mothers are 

 hens, and we prefer the Asiatic fowls, either Cochins or 

 Brahmas. A hen of these breeds will cover nine or ten 

 eggs. We have found an old barrel with a board at the 

 end to fasten the bird upon her nest, as good as a more 

 expensive coop. They are let off regularly at noon 

 every day, when they have a half hour's range, green 

 food, grain and water. The young ducks are fed with 

 some fresh animal food and coarse Indian meal scalded ; 

 this, varied with chopped cabbage, turnips, worms, and 

 liver, is the staple food until they are three months old. 

 They do much better on soft food than on grain. 



The paradise of ducks is a location on a tide- water 

 stream or cove, where there is a constant succession of 

 sea-food with every tide. If furnished with a little 

 house or pen upon the shore, and a variety of grain, 

 they will come home regularly every night and lead an 

 orderly life. The eggs are usually laid at night, or early 

 in the morning, and very few of them need be lost. Of 

 the four varieties, Rouen, Aylesbury, Cayuga, and 

 Pekin, we give the preference to the last for size, early 

 maturity, abundance of eggs, hardiness, and domestic 

 habits. 



A plan of a convenient house is shown by the accom- 

 panying engraving. For fifty to one hundred ducks it 

 should be thirty feet long, twelve feet wide, and from 

 four feet high at the front to six or eight feet in the 

 rear. Entrance doors are made in the front, which 

 should have a few small windows. At the rear are the 

 nests; these are boxes open at the front. Behind each 



