Apr. K). 1912 



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255 



A. I. Root. 



In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall di- 

 rect thy paths.— Pkov. 3:6. 



After the boys had taken four of my ducks, 

 as 1 have explained, I was obliged to decide 

 it would not answer any more to let the 

 ducks loose in the main canal; but as soon 

 as I tried shutting them up, the eggs began 

 to drop off. In order to get the benefit of 

 the canal, Wesley and I constructed a fence 

 along the margin of the stream, setting the 

 posts in the rocky bottom. This was pos- 

 sible because there are quite a number of 

 live-oak trees along the margin of thestreara 

 that .reach out over it. \Ve set the posts 

 near where one of these trees bent over the 

 stream or had overhanging branches. With 

 a crowbar we made a small cavity in the 

 rocky bottom, and then spiked the post to 

 the trunk of the tree or the limbs above. 

 Then by stretching barbed wire and poultry 

 netting on these posts we had a stream, per- 

 haps five to ten feet wide and about one 

 hundred feet in length. Now, when the 

 ducks had access to the full width of the 

 canal it required much less feed, as I have 

 already explained. We concluded that what 

 could not be cured must be endured. This 

 time th . boys have not as yet come on to 

 our premises; but my last and only drake 

 was lost, as I have previously explained, 

 after w^e had constructed this fence in the 

 creek. The boys broke through the poultry 

 netting and barbed wire and killed my duck 

 as I explained. Now, although I have had 

 many difficulties and perplexities in my life- 

 work, I have also had many surprises, or, if 

 you choose, answers to prayers. A great 

 many times when these prayers are answer- 

 ed I find much more has been given me 

 than I asked for or expected. Let me ex- 

 plain how it is in this 

 case. After the boys 

 were arrested I found 

 that I was once more 

 at liberty to let my 

 ducks out into the open 

 canal. I then said to 

 Wesley, "There! we 

 have gone to the ex- 

 pense and trouble of 

 making that wire-cloth 

 fence along the canal, 

 when at present we do 

 not need it," and it 

 stood for some little 

 time unused. When 

 my first incubator brood of ducks got 

 about eight weeks old I felt sure that it 

 would be very much to their benefit, and 

 lessen the amount of food, if they could 

 have access in like manner to the water in 

 the canal. Let me explain that the best 

 authorities on ducks have decided that it is 

 not advisable to let ducklings out into the 

 open water .before they are four or five weeks 

 old, or old enough to have some of the real 



feathers that take the place of the down that 

 is on them at first. 



When six weeks old they are almost fully 

 grown. I felt sure that they wanted water 

 in order to do their best. Now, ducks or 

 especially ducklings need only a very small 

 yard if they have access to water. One day 

 I said to Wesley, "Why, look here; we have 

 got the nicest yard for the ducklings in the 

 world if we just put some fencing across 

 that strip we prepared for the big ducks. In 

 a very short time we had it all fixed. The 

 first day that they liad access to this water 

 amply repaid me for all the time and trou- 

 ble it had caused; and just a few days later 

 we fixed another similar place for the four- 

 weeks-old ducks. See B and D in the dia- 

 gram. Now about this strip of fence we put 

 along the margin of the stream, about 100 

 feet long. The young ducks, each brood, 

 have between forty and fifty feet for a swim- 

 ming-yard. When I let them out of the 

 house in the morning it would do anybody 

 good to see the ducks go down into the water. 

 They fairly make the water fly as they go 

 from one end to the other of their yard. The 

 amount of feed needed is also very much 

 less. I can hardly explain this, for it hard- 

 ly seems possible that they could get a very 

 large amount of food out of the running 

 water in this narrow strip. The improve- 

 ment in their appearance and progress was 

 very marked at once. In fact, after they 

 had been out in this water several days they 

 hardly looked like the same fowls. I will 

 have to explain to you that the salt water 

 at high tide rises up into this water, and I 

 verily believe that a little salt water mixed 

 with fresh water is a benefit to ducks and 

 ducklings. They seem to enjoy it very 



Poult ry WIRE fence 

 ' 5w)MmingYard 

 4wEEK Ducks 



B 



IN THE WATER. 



F 



G 



Ygrd for Mature, Idyiiy Ducks. 



dia(;kaji of our duck yakps bokdeking thk drainace canal. 

 A, trap-door to admit laying stock into the stream. B, second trap-door, 

 opening into outer canal. C and 1), partition fence of netting. I-: and K, 

 gateway for ducklings. G, duck house for young ducklings. 



much indeed. Now, instead of this fence 

 made along the bed of the stream at some 

 little expense being money wasted, it is re- 

 ally one of the best investments I ever made. 

 In connection with the above I want to tell 

 you about another thing that I think I can 

 call one of my "discoveries." Anybody 

 who has had riiuch to do with ducks and 

 chickens, or especially with a brood from 

 the incubator, has discovered how difficult 



