May, 1912 
to facilitate housekeeping that some larger and more ex- 
pensive houses lack. In any of the houses described it 
would be perfectly possible for an ordinary sized family 
to live quite comfortably without being at all crowded and 
yet one or two people with a maid would not feel them too 
large or in any way lonesome. Any one of them would 
make an ideal establishment for a spinster, bachelor man 
or bachelor maid. There would be plenty of room for 
china, cats and canaries, and still one would not feel afflicted 
with waste space! However, whether the occupants of 
these houses be married folk with spouses and children or 
whether they be not and, like Queen Elizabeth, elect to live 
their lives in single rather than in double blessedness, one 
thing is certain: Such houses as those shown in the group 
here illustrated are so adaptable that people are bound to 
find them livable, they are so pleasingly devised from the 
architect’s point of view that they are sure to be interesting, 
they so admirably fill an urgent want that they must needs 
be appreciated by all who are conversant with present-day 
conditions of home making, and they are an adornment 
to any ial however remote from where these stand. 
RAISING DUCKS ON THE SMALL PLACE. 
gaged pee eee ea 
STOOIERS 
have a little ine Te must not ie: overlooked. 
It is not necessary to use incubators and brooders. ‘They 
are convenient, but either or both may be dispensed with. 
They are of more value when a lot of young Pekins are to 
be hatched out and quickly fattened than when breeding 
ducks or ducks to be raised for egg laying are desired. It 
may be said, parenthetically, that a number of women and 
many men are making a tidy bit of money each season by 
hatching out a few scores or hundreds of Pekin ducks and 
sending them to market in April and May. Only a little 
ground and a small investment are needed and the birds 
may be sent to market alive, if the untidy job of killing and 
dressing them is not relished. A half-dozen of the strongest 
and earliest of the ducklings may be selected for the next 
season’s breeders, and the old breeders sold. It is not well 
to keep breeders more than two years, as the older they are, 
the later in the season the ducks begin to lay. It will be 
seen that as soon as the ducklings are disposed of, in the 
Spring, there remain only a few breeders to be cared for 
until the next season. A little venture in ducks along this line 
is often quite worth while, especially when one lives in the 
country or has a good-sized suburban lot. 
But to return to the ducklings. When they are hatched by 
natural means, it is well to use large, motherly hens, which 
are able to cover nine or ten eggs with ease. The ducklings 
will not need to remain with the hen as long as chickens 
would, and as soon as they are ready to look out for them- 
selves may be placed in little houses in flocks of twenty-five 
or more. Boxes similar to the one described for laying 
ducks, except longer, may be used, but should have slatted 
doors to keep the young birds confined when the weather is 
stormy and yet give them plenty of ventilation. 
The question, ‘“What shall I feed?” usually comes up 
early. As it happens, there are no hard and fast rules for 
feeding. On the whole, simple rations are as satisfactory 
as the complicated ones sometimes formulated. Equal parts 
of rolled oats and bread crumbs with five per cent of coarse 
sand may be fed the first week. The addition of a few 
hard boiled eggs will help to make the mash nutritious. The 
sand is very necessary, and oatmeal or rolled oats are among 
the best of feeds for ducks of all ages. Milk or warm water 
may be used to make the mash. 
After the first week, one third wheat bran and one third 
cornmeal, with five per cent of beef scraps and ten per cent 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
Ig 
green food in the shape of chopped rye, clover or green corn 
stalks should be given. The green food need not be mixed 
with the mash unless desired and the exact quantity does 
not matter. [he mash should be given four times a day for 
the first two weeks, and after that three times. Care must 
be taken that the weaker birds get enough; it is often neces- 
sary to go the rounds a second time and dole out a little 
more for them. Grit should be placed in boxes where the 
young birds can have free access to it. And all feeding 
and water receptacles must be kept clean. Ducks are not 
over-neat in their habits. 
When the ducklings are to be marketed the proportion of 
cornmeal should be gradually increased until it is much the 
larger at the end. Let me say, however, that for your own 
private table you will do just as well not to fatten the ducks 
too fast. The birds that run around more and are not 
forced with fattening food are really better to eat. As a 
matter of fact, the flesh of the Indian Runner or that of the 
Rouen is as good as Pekin duck meat; the latter wins in the 
market on the score of appearance. 
The conclusion of the whole subject lies in the statement 
that Indian Runner ducks may be grown with profit for the 
eggs which they produce, and will be relished on the owner’s 
private table, that Pekins, being pure white, large and 
quickly grown, are the favorite and most profitable table 
breed, and that the Rouens are all-round ducks which have 
many admirers and are largely bred. A little experiment in 
duck growing needs small means and may lead to big results. 
SOME CHILDREN’S PLATES 
By HELEN WARRINGTON 
[OA 0 1 0 LN ONO NOOO NOR H E ch 1 ] d 1 S 
og always pleased to feel that the 
articles on the table for his use are especially 
devised for him, and that they are things 
apart from the objects used by grown-ups, 
notwithstanding his propensity to imitate his 
elders and to appropriate to his imitating the 
things associated with their grown-up living. The group of 
plates illustrated upon this page and the one following were 
designed especially for little tots, being decorated with pic- 
torial subjects suggested by the most beloved classic of child- 
hood, Mother Goose. In each of these plates the reader 
will notice that the ornament is placed in the middle of the 
plate where it is seen to the best advantage, being set off by 
the plain border of the rim. One of these sets of children’s 
plates, intended for a very young child, presents the pictorial 
decoration in a little more realistic way, unmistakable as to 
the story each is intended to remind one of. The ornament 
upon the other set is more frankly decorative, but with a 
swing and freedom of line which children can fully appre- 
ciate. The meanings are all clear; and the affection towards 
Pussy or the apprehension of Miss Mufht (with her elab- 
HUAUAUIU DUDA 
ANON ONTO ONT. ONULO NENT, 
= See vasan tee 
NOSTOR OS OSA sir ie 
A set of children’s nursery saucer-plates 
