CIraniiiKK in Kee Culdii 



from four ducks right along; but on Dec. 31 

 one of my laying ducks did not get home at 

 night with the rest, and Mrs. Hoot then re- 

 minded me that one of our largest drakes 

 failed to return the day before Thanksgiv- 

 huj. At the time, f explained it by saying 

 the alligators must have taken him, as they 

 were gomg up the canal nearly half a mile 

 every day. By the way, Mrs. Root thought 

 I had got it a little too strong when I said 

 nothing was ever stolen in our neighbor- 

 hood, and remarked, "Do you think it rea- 

 sonable that an alligator would take a par- 

 ticular fancy for a fat drake just before 

 Thanksgiving, and again for a duck just be- 

 fore New Year's day?" 



Well, I still feel sure no one around here 

 has harmed my ducks; but if they really 

 were stolen I think it was done by strangers 

 from afar, who are usually prowling about 

 with guns at this season of the year. 



Since Jan. 1 I have been getting only two 

 duck eggs a day much of the time, the two 

 younger ducks not doing as well as their 

 mother a year older. One of them, after 

 finishing her laying, wanted to sit, for about 

 a week; but, notwithstanding, I am putting 

 every egg under hens or in the incubator. 

 Out of 51 eggs in the incubator, 45 were fer- 

 tile; but I hatched out only 19 ducklings, 

 most of the rest having "died in the shell." 

 I wrote to Cyphers people about it, and they 

 seemed to think I did not give the eggs suf- 

 ficient cooling. 



The incubator is running again with 47 

 fertile eggs, and so far (11 days) they seem 

 to be strongly fertile. As I hatched only 19 



1 said to myself 1 would take great care and 

 not lose a duckling; but just this morning 

 (when they are 11 days old) I found one 

 squeezed in between the tireless brooder and 

 the fence. How could I have been so care- 

 less as to leave such a place instead of push- 

 ing the brooder clear up to the fence, leav- 

 ing no vacancy? Perhaps "locking the 

 stable door after the horse is stolen " is bet- 

 ter than doing nothing; but I would give a 

 silver dollar to have that bright lively little 

 friend back to life again, and to cure the 

 sting of a guilty conscience that follows me 

 all the day long. The tireless brooder ans- 

 wers here beautifully with ducklings. At 

 first for a few nights while it was quite cool 

 I gave them a heated brick; but I am led to 

 believe it was not necessary; for one night 

 when it seemed warm I omitted it, and it 

 turned suddenly cold with a trace of frost. 

 They were only about four days old, and I 

 went out just at daylight with fear (and 

 trembling) that they might all be stiff with 

 cold. Not so. As soon as the entrance was 

 open, out they shot and took a run clear to 

 the other end of their yard in the frosty 

 morning air; and after a big feed they can- 

 tered about until the sun was up. 



Now in regard to the pictures accompany- 

 ing this article. If you will turn back to 

 my "duck story," April 1, last year, you 

 will get a much better idea of them. While 

 on the train coming here one man remark- 

 ed to another, pointing to me, "Is not that 

 the chap that goes down to Florida every 

 winter to raise ducks to feed to alligators?" 



Eggs are now only 30 cts. a dozen, so that 



The waterf.ill that comes down over the mouth of the "alligator cave." It is made to spread out like a 

 great soap bubble by the stream falling on the smooth surface of an inverted five-cent flre-shovel. 



