DOMESTIC DUCKS 269 



water being made muddy and foul, and the grass also in the im- 

 mediate vicinity unsightly and unpleasant. . The apportionment 

 of the drakes to the ducks deserves attention. On a quarter-acre 

 of cemented pond one drake and two ducks proved disastrous to 

 the latter. The drakes, therefore, as a rule, ought not to be re- 

 served in greater proportion than one to every five ducks. The 

 ducks must be fed every morning with small maize, buckwheat, 

 etc., strewing major part in shallow w T ater. 



DOMESTIC DUCKS, Aylesbury, Rouen, etc., are always praised by 

 poultry-keepers for shovelling up slugs, and they advocate admis- 

 sion of ducklings into gardens and vegetable grounds. This is a 

 very questionable utility procedure where the crops are young and 

 likely to be trodden down and broken, and in the case of ducklings 

 over a month old, almost certain to do more harm than good. On 

 the other hand, where the crops are advanced in growth and not 

 likely to be injured by webbed feet under heavy bodies, ducklings 

 of under a month old, or even older are useful for destroying slugs 

 in gardens and vegetable grounds. The ducklings should be turned 

 into the plot infested with slugs early in the morning or during 

 moist weather, always on an empty stomach, and the ducks cleared 

 off the ground as soon as they have done foraging. The question 

 of the usefulness or otherwise of ducklings to cultivators of crops 

 thus resolves itself into a matter for discriminative judgment. 



