course — for a Runner which will keep his flock up where he can 

 produce a bird which will satisfy the market. It would not take 

 long for shippers to kill any chance for a Runner market, by 

 sending in birds of the weights mentioned by some of our com- 

 mission friends. There is one more reason for a larger bird for 

 the farm, this is that the egg, also, tends to grow smaller under 

 unfavorable conditions. We want a bird that will hold the Run- 

 ner egg at three ounces. One man told the public last year that 

 his Runner eggs "averaged" four ounces ! I have not yet found 

 anybody whose experience makes them believe this story. And I 

 do not know that a four-ounce egg is wanted, or is worth while. 

 But I do think we should strive to keep an average of three 

 ounces. 



At one place where I inquired about the Runner egg market 

 I was told that they were selling at 38 and 40 cents, with very 

 light supply; that they would bring "almost any price" in the 

 weeks near Easter, but that at other times they would not pay 

 much premium over hens' eggs. This house had received very 

 few Runner eggs as yet. 



At one place I got a good deal of quiet fun out of the situ- 

 ation. The man evidently had hardly s6 much as heard of the 

 Runner, though his sign acclaimed him a dealer in Eggs, Poultry 

 and Game. I started in on the "game" end with him, telling him 

 we had a duck which was said to be gamy in flavor, and to com- 

 pare with the canvas-back. I also told him that this duck was a 

 good layer, with an accredited Agricultural College record of 199 

 eggs in ten months, or thereabouts. He immediately said he did 

 not believe it — not that he doubted my word, oh no ! — but it was 

 too much to believe. Pekin Ducks, he told me, would only lay 

 about 13 to 16 in the spring and a few more in the fall. "Better 

 not tell that to a Pekin breeder", — I challenged him. However, 

 he insisted that it was impossible; that no duck had ever laid 

 more than a few weeks in spring, and that he would believe no 



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