SUCCESS WITH DUCKS. 189 



reaching for their food at the bottom of the tank, their 

 necks and bills will be actively employed. Nature will 

 receive her just dues. 



This is not like " hogging" feed out of a trough. Of 

 course, there must be a bell near the distant feed cylin- 

 ders and another at the tank. The cylinders need not 

 be charged oftener than once a day, and by carrying a 

 pail of soaked wheat, barley or cracked corn in one hand 

 and a tin scoop in the other, the filling can be very 

 quickly done. The establishment is supposed to have an 

 attendant, employed at something near at hand, so that 

 he may move the cylinders and ring the bells every hour 

 or oftener, but the perfection of labor saving is to have 

 this done by clockwork, similar to that which strikes 

 the hours in a tower clock. Pekins, which are the 

 duck for commercial raising, are indifferent to swim- 

 ming, preferring dry land in fact; yet they can be 

 induced to work in this way to their great benefit during 

 the off season. In this way, the stamina of the strain of 

 selected breeding birds can be maintained generation 

 after generation and diseases kept at bay. 



