is 196. I can scarcely possess my soul in patience until they lay 

 the few required to make a 300-egg record* 



"I read in the last 'Reliable,' " the letter continued, "that 

 they make a better record the second year than the first; if so, 

 they certainly are profitable from the stand-point of egg produc- 

 tion alone. The young sprouts have begun to lay a little." This 

 report is from the Middle States district, the ducks being kept on 

 farm, free-range conditions. It is on this class of reports that I 

 rely most to give us an idea of what "the Leghorn duck" will do 

 with good handling under conditions available to every farmer, 

 with watered land and without. These particular ducks had a 

 stream to which to resort at will daily. 



You will be glad to learn, I think, that Mother L. (the wife's 

 elderly biit high-spirited mother) takes practically all the care of 

 these birds. They had no special extra care in the winter. No 

 green stuff was available till May, and no meat till early April. 

 Mash of bran and middlings, with corn and buckwheat for grain, 

 completed this simplest of rations. But I will whisper to you 

 that the lady in charge is a liberal feeder. I am sure her interest 

 and care make at least a part of the reason for good returns. 



And as to the record, — if you could see, as I did, the little 

 thin book with its daily "number laid," such as you may see on 

 any farm, you would know it was all straight. As for myself, 

 I would sooner distrust my own record, or that of any one of 

 the Experiment Stations! 



At that time my own birds had been doing better than I 

 should have the face to ask them. Nearly 43 per cent of the old 

 ducks still on hand were laying the third week in October; the 

 earliest of the young were not hatched till April 21st. They had 

 been laying some time, and by the second week in October, about 

 40 per cent of the ducks from the first three broods were laying. 



*Later, this average was increased to 200 plus with 40 days yet to 

 make out the year. 



