that he had had a certain shipment of Runners sent him that 

 weighed only about a pound and a quarter or a little more, and 

 he had so much trouble to get rid of them that he was ready to 

 "run" whenever he heard any one say "Indian Runner." I 

 quietly asked why they were so small. "Oh!" he said, "they 

 were broilers." "Why did they sell so slowly? Surely you do 

 not expect broilers to weigh as much as mature birds?" "No; 

 but these were sent 'way out of season, besides being smaller 

 birds than the market wants in a broiler duck." 



We have no difficulty, in analyzing this story, in seeing 

 that one unusual experience with an exceptional and out of season 

 shipment (apparently the only one this merchant had ever re- 

 ceived of Runners) had laid the basis for unreasoning prejudice 

 against a bird scarcely yet in the market at all. But I have had 

 more than this unreasonable prejudice in mind in telling the two 

 stories above. They both point a moral for the producer. They 

 show that it is the producer who is wholly at fault many times, 

 when he thinks it is wholly the Commission merchant. The 

 moral, stated broadly, is: "Send the market zvhat the market 

 wants, ivhen it wants it !" If you do not, you must either step in 

 and educate the market (which can often be done by a keen 

 worker), or else you must expect to be subject to all the losses 

 caused by the vagaries and the prejudices of that market. It 

 has been said times without number that any fowl put into the 

 hands of the general farmer is bound to deteriorate in size, vigor 

 and quality. The facts have proved this statement too often for 

 it to be seriously questioned, as a general statement. Of course 

 there are many shining exceptions, but not enough to change the 

 general affirmation. 



Making this specific, I want to emphasize this matter of size 

 in Runners. The Runner is a small bird, and the greatest range 

 in the Standard bird is from three and one half pounds for the 

 smallest ducks to five pounds for the largest drakes. They run 



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