"The Indian Runner Duck boom has taken on large propor- 

 tions, and many people have been led to believe that this duck 

 is more profitable to the egg farm than any breed or variety of 

 fowls. We wanted to warn our friends that the merits of this 

 duck as an egg-producer have been over-stated. It is a very 

 prolific egg-producer, to be sure. But there is not the market for 

 duck eggs that there is for eggs of fowls." He goes on to say 

 that duck raising requires a special location, while "most any 

 piece of good land" is suitable for fowls, and that the good duck 

 location "is an exceptional one." Mr. Rigg then repeats: 

 ^'Again we advise our friends to be careful how they go into this 

 new breed." 



As to "over-statement," I wonder if Mr. Rigg knows of 

 a single breed of hens whose merits as egg-producers have not 

 been over-stated ! Probably no such breed or variety exists. As 

 to "most any good land" being suitable for fowls, Mr. Rigg 

 most certainly does not score there, for the very specialness 

 about the duck location is that it doesn't need good land; the 

 waste places being especially suited to it. I saw, in a dinky 

 little stream in New York state, — a stream with a dozen turns 

 and twists, possibly, — to every few rods, and widely bordered by 

 swale, a flock of fifty most beautiful Runners: the thriftiest, 

 happiest lot of birds one could ask to see. As to productiveness, 

 these were not yet of laying age ; but their immediate ancestors, 

 a small lot, had laid 100 per cent for the flock, 83 times — that is 

 on 83 different days — in less than eight months. If my friend, 

 Mr. Rigg, thinks this is exaggeration, I can give him dates and 

 figures from the daily memorandum. These were strictly half- 

 Walton birds. 



A letter from another doubter— out on the west coast — reads 

 as follows : "About the Runners, perhaps they will be mortgage- 

 lifters, as long as their eggs can be sold for hatching; but, as 

 .market eggs, I can't see it. What I'd like to find out is the truth 



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