CHAPT#HR XXI. 
RAISING DUCKS. 
PROFITS IN DUCK RAISING. 
Most farmers have a prejudice against water-fowl, 
especially ducks. They tolerate geese better than ducks, 
because they will forage for themselves, and live wholly 
on grass through the summer, after the goslings are 
started. Ducks will not bear neglect so well; they are 
more prone to wander and get lost or devoured in 
swamps or brooks. They have a foolish way of drop 
ping their eggs in water, and of following a brook, or 
river, into neighboring farms; unless they have suitable 
quarters, and receive regular attention, it is a good deal 
of trouble to look after them. The half-starved duck 
disposes of a good deal of corn at a single feed, remem- 
bering the past and anticipating the future. The slip- 
shod farmer is prejudiced against the bird, and will 
have none of him. But the duck has so many good 
qualities, matures so early, and furnishes so rare a re- 
past, that the owner of a country home with cultivated 
tastes can hardly afford to do without a duck-yard. 
The flesh, in our esteem, is the greatest delicacy raised 
upon the farm; and if they were much more troublesome 
than we have ever found them, we should not hesitate 
to keep them. The fact is, a large part of the trouble 
is owing to sheer neglect, and the reputation of the bird 
as a gross feeder is owing to irregular supplies of food. 
If grain or other food is kept within reach, they devour 
no more than other fowls that mature as rapidly. If in 
suitable quarters and well fed, they get most of their 
growth in four months, and can be marketed in August 
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