MARCH 15. 1913 



199 



themselves to their oft-needed drink. The 

 duckling-s can be fed wheat, provided it is 

 soaked so as to be soft, after they are two 

 weeks old. You have probablj^ noticed that 

 both ducklings and chickens when they be- 

 come accustomed to one kind of food get it 

 into their heads that they can't get along 

 with any thing else, and there will be quite 

 a little teasing if they don't have their ac- 

 customed diet. 



In regard to animal food for ducks, in 

 one of Cyi^her's catalogs he gives illustra- 

 tions of two flocks of ducks. One had plen- 

 ty of animal food from the start, and the 

 other had nothing but vegetable food. Both 

 flocks of ducks were hatched from the same 

 eggs, the same in number; but at the end 

 of several months the number of vegeta- 

 rians had been greatly reduced, and they 

 did not compare at all favorably with those 

 that had the meat diet. From this it seems 

 evident that ducks especially must have a 

 considerable amount of animal food in their 

 ration. If they do not they will suffer. 

 Another thing, we want to be sure that they 

 have plenty of fresh air. I think many 

 chickens and ducks are killed by artificial 

 heat when such heat is not needed. With 

 what experience I have had with ducks I 

 should saj' that they are the easiest fowls 

 in the world to raise. From all the duck- 

 lings I have brought to successful maturity 

 down here in Florida, I can remember only 

 one that died unless it was by accident. 

 Give them an enclosure when they ai'e little, 

 where no rat or wild animal of any sort 

 can possibly get to them, then let them have 

 their liberty, and run and enjoy life and 

 be happy. 



Just before dictating this I went out and 

 had a look at my twelve ducklings hatched 

 out by an Indian Runner mother, and it is 

 wonderfully interesting to me to study a 

 sitting duck and her habits and ways of 

 managing, as well as studying a sitting hen. 



POULTRY-NETTING BASKETS FOR FEEDING 

 CHICKENS GREEN STUFF, ETC. 



Since what I have said in regard to this 

 I have made another big discovery. Listen 

 and see if you do not agree with me. After 

 what I said about rolling up a piece of 

 poultry-netting, something seemed to keep 

 sajdng to me that I had seen a basket some- 

 where that was just the thing, that we had 

 already in use. Finally, one day in going 

 through one of our store rooms I saw some 

 poultry-netting hens' nests hanging up on a 

 nail. These were bought from Sears, Roe- 

 buck & Co., at a cost of only 4 cents each, 

 and they had never been used because they 

 are almost too conspicuous to please the 



" biddies " unless they are screened by a 

 box or something of that sort, to make them 

 more retiring. As I never got around to do 

 this they remained there unused. In a 

 tmnkling I had twisted some wires around 

 the upper edge to hang them on the poul- 

 try-netting fence, and they made just the 

 prettiest baskets for holding lettuce and 

 green stuff that can be imagined. In your 

 garden you frequently have lettuce, I'ad- 

 ishes, turnips, and mustard sown too thick- 

 ly. Well, when you pull out the surplus 

 plants and thi-ow them on the ground the 

 chickens will just drag them around without 

 being able to pull off the leaves so they can 

 eat them. With tliis wire-cloth basket the 

 tiling worked to perfection. Put any old 

 outside leaves from cabbage, lettuce, tur- 

 nip tops, etc., from the kitchen, and all such 

 stuff, into these baskets, and it will be eaten 

 up perfectly with scarcely a remnant. With 

 oiir convergent iDOultry-yards we simply 

 hang the baskets on the outside of the fence 

 clear around the circle; then, in order to 

 feed the cliickens green stuff', we do not 

 have to open the gates at all. Just go around 

 with 3^our basket of lettuce, or other gTeen 

 stuff, and drop a handful over into the 

 hens'-nest basket, and it is done in a twin- 

 kling. For little chicks, of course, you have 

 to hang them lower; and it is one of the 

 prettiest sights I ever saw in the poultiy- 

 yard to see an incubator flock of chickens 

 busy at work at a great head of lettuce sus- 

 pended just over their heads in one of these 

 baskets. 



Wliile on the subject of these wire-cloth 

 baskets I want to say that a poultry-netting 

 bottom for any hens' nest is certainly a very 

 fine thing. While visiting our Ohio Experi- 

 ment Station I noted that their trajD nests 

 were all made with poultry-netting bottoms. 

 This let all accumulation of broken sti'aw, 

 cliaff, etc., drop down through out of the 

 way. And, by the way, about the best ma- 

 terial for hens' nests that I know of is soft 

 hay. Our Bermuda-grass hay that grows 

 down here in such profusion is just the 

 thing. As often as the hens break it up and 

 let the fine part drop through, some more 

 fresh \\s.y can be supplied. In this way the 

 nests are always nice and clean and sani- 

 tary. 



I want to say something more about let- 

 tuce. About three miles south of us is a 

 young market-gardener who has several 

 acres of perhaps the most beautiful lettuce 

 that I ever saw. Well, a few days ago he 

 told me that if I would come down with my 

 auto and get it I might have all the lettuce 

 I wanted. That is, by selecting heads that 

 were not fit for shipment I could probably 



