SMALL HOLDINGS 179 



similar compartments which are placed in 

 sheds, but which are larger owing to the 

 increased size of the birds. 



Young ducklings are forced by good feeding, 

 which consists to some extent of offal from a 

 butcher's shop, including fat, or, in its absence, 

 tallow chandler's greaves; but the highest 

 type of feeding is practically confined to the 

 employment of oatmeal, barleymeal, or maize- 

 meal, or these foods mixed in appropriate 

 quantities and stirred into a thick paste with 

 milk, a little chopped suet being added. 

 The chief trouble with ducklings is their 

 liability to diarrhoea or scour, but this can 

 be obviated by the exercise of the greatest 

 cleanliness in the preparation of their food, 

 and the provision of their water. Care 

 must be taken to prevent the possibility 

 of their consuming food or water which 

 is tainted with manure, their own drop- 

 pings, or with tainted soil. 



The duck industry, which involves three to 

 four months' work in the year, is of a suffi- 

 ciently profitable nature to make it worth 

 the while of the small holder to learn 

 something of the system, which he 

 may do by paying visits to farmers 

 like himself in Bucks, where large numbers 



