MANAGEMENT OF DUCKS 147 



profitable. As the demand increased they tried to increase pro- 

 duction to meet it, but were unable to do this, because there was 

 then in this country no duck adapted to their needs. The Ayles- 

 bury Duck, the favorite table duck in England, was too delicate. 

 The only hardy white duck that they had was the White Muscovy. 

 This breed was not very satisfactory, because the females are 

 much smaller than the males, but they had to use white ducks,, 

 for the colored ducks will not pick clean at the age at which 

 ducks can be marketed most profitably ; so they did the best 



FIG. 133. View from the windmill tower in Fig. 132 



they could with the White Muscovy Duck, under the restric- 

 tions placed upon their operations by the difficulty of getting 

 broody hens. While the industry was mostly on Long Island, 

 there were duck growers here and there on the mainland in the 

 vicinity of New York and also near Boston, but there were no 

 duck farms of any importance in other parts of the country. 



When the White Pekin Ducks were brought from China, 

 and reports of their hardiness, prolificacy, and rapid growth 

 were circulated, the duck growers were at first very skeptical, 

 but they soon learned that the reports which they had supposed 

 were greatly exaggerated were literally true. Then every duck 



