38 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
July  14,  1898. 
anyone  anxious  to  really  study  the  system  of  duckling  rearing  should 
be  prepared  to  follow  out  the  workings  from  beginning  to  end  on  the 
spot.  That  spot  in  this  case  is  the  neighbourhood  of  Leighton  Buzzard, 
on  the  boiders  of  Bedford  and  Bucks.  As  Aylesbury  ducks  are  a  well- 
known  breed  of  large  growth  we  can  see  the  reason  for  this  locality 
being  chosen,  Leighton  Buzzard  being,  as  it  were,  the  centre  of  the 
egg-producing  district  for  this  variety. 
Much  of  this  breeding  and  fattening  business  appears  to  be  in  the 
hands  of  the  cottagers  and  small  holders,  and  we  believe  it  is  only  by 
the  multiplication  of  small  poultry  farms  that  we  can  increase  our 
output  of  birds  and  eggs.  Individual  care,  unwearying  patience,  are 
at  the  bottom  of  all  successful  effort,  and  only  industrious,  cleanly 
folk,  need  ever  hope  to  make  poultry  pay.  The  egg  producing  (duck) 
is  quite  a  separate  industry  from  the  hatching  and  fattening.  The 
fatteuer  gets  his  eggs  where  and  how  he  can  ;  each  man  probably  has 
his  own  houses  of  call,  and  will  bargain  to  take  all  eggs  during  the 
season  at  an  arranged  price.  Of  course  in  the  early  season  the  ducks’ 
eggs  are  a  veritable  prize,  6s.  to  7s.  being  given  for  a  sitting  of 
thirteen.  Occasionally,  too,  as  early  as  Christmas,  Is.  a  piece  will  be 
given  for  fertile  eggs. 
There  seems  to  be  a  difficulty  about  sitting  hens;  4s.  seems  a 
good  price  to  give  for  a  broody  hen,  and  our  own  experience  goes  to 
prove  that  when  finished  with  Is.  3d.  is  all  that  we  dare  to  ask  or 
expect  to  get.  We  think  a  good  reliable  and  reasonable  incubator 
would  be  a  boon  to  these  raisers.  We  have  found  ducks  do  equally 
well  in  the  care  of  a  foster  mother  as  chickens,  but  of  course  we  do 
not  presume  to  dictate.  We  have  given  up  trying  to  get  early  sitters, 
but  perhaps  we  have  not  been  persevering  enough  in  our  search  for 
them.  Of  course  it  is  most  advisable  when  hens  are  used  for  the 
purposes  of  incubation  that  several  should  be  set  on  the  same  day,  so 
that  when  about  the  tenth  day  the  eggs  come  to  be  tested,  and  the 
unfertile  removed,  there  can  be  an  amalgamation  of  nests,  or  rather  of 
the  contents,  and  thus  one  or  more  hens  will  be  found  ready  to  begin 
with  a  new  sitting  of  eggs  ;  time  and  hen  power  being  of  great  value. 
Not  a  moment  must  be  lost  after  the  duckling  is  hatched ;  his  sole 
object  in  life  being  the  laying  on  of  flesh  with  the  greatest  rapidity 
possible.  His  first  diet  will  consist  of  hard-boiled  egg  chopped  fine 
(the  unfertile  ones  doing  well  for  this  purpose), and  soaked  toast;  then 
there  is  a  change  of  diet  after  a  week  or  ten  days,  boiled  rice,  which 
costs  about  10s.  per  cwt.  ;  then  again  barleymeal  and  sharps,  both 
excellent  flesh  formers.  At  five  weeks  old  begins  the  fattening  proper, 
when  tallow  scrap  is  introduced,  or  perhaps  instead  of  that,  boiled 
horse  flesh  or  fallen  sheep  will  be  given;  the  mealy  compound  as 
before.  This  makes  a  rich  heavy  food,  and  to  help  the  system  to 
stand  it  the  common  nettle  is  added  to  and  boiled  with  the  mixture. 
Nettle  tea  or  beer  used  to  be  an  old  favourite  spring  remedy  with  our 
grandmothers  for  all  sorts  of  blood  ailments.  Three  meals  a  day  are 
a  necessity,  and  it  is  wonderful  to  see  how  much  a  duckling  will  put 
out  of  sight.  Early  in  the  season  the  per-centage  of  “  wrong  ”  eggs 
will  be  heavy,  but  if  85  per  cent,  can  be  turned  into  fat  duckling 
there  is  not  great  cause  for  grumbling.  Our  experience  is,  that  the 
later  the  eggs  (up  to  June)  the  more  fertile  they  prove.  Possibly  this 
is  in  a  measure  owing  to  a  greater  preponderance  of  natural  food, 
grasses,  slugs  and  worms. 
Taken  from  their  foster  mothers  at  a  week  or  ten  days  old,  they 
are  put  into  wooden  sheds  with  a  “  run  ”  in  front.  Clean  straw  and 
daily  cleanings  are  of  first  importance.  Ducks  are  dirty  things,  and 
contrive  to  get  themselves  “messy”  where  a  chicken  would  be  as 
clean  as  a  new  pin.  Just  see  the  filthy  state  of  a  water  trough  to 
which  ducks  have  access,  and  see  how  they  “  splutter”  and  toss  about 
their  food.  It  does  not  do  to  have  too  many  together,  so  the  “  flocks” 
consist  when  the  birds  are  young  of  about  100,  and  as  they  near 
maturity  two  dozen  are  quite  enough.  When  we  hear  of  a  cottager 
having  as  many  as  1300  young  ducks  on  his  premises  at  the  same 
time,  and  another  sending  off  1900  in  a  season,  we  must  allow  that 
great  energy  and  enterprise  is  at  work,  and  these  people  contrast  very 
favourably  with  the  much  vaunted  French  peasantry,  who  are  so  held 
up  to  our  people  as  an  example  in  what  may  be  called  “  poultry 
industries.”  We  hear,  too,  of  a  farm,  160  acres  in  extent,  where  the 
number  of  ducklings  sent  to  market  in  1893  was  10,000.  The 
workers  are  not  toiling  all  the  year  round,  as  August  sees  the  end  of 
the  duck  trade,  so  the  houses,  pens,  and  rearing  ground  generally  have 
plenty  of  time  to  get  thoroughly  sweetened  and  made  wholesome 
again. 
The  prices  of  the  young  ducklings,  which  we  quote  from  an  article 
in  “Royal  Agricultural  Journal”  for  1894,  are  as  follows: — London: 
February,  16s.  per  couple  ;  March,  14s. ;  April,  12s. ;  May,  8s.  ;  June, 
6s.  to  7s. ;  and  their  average  weight  when  dressed  is  about  5  lbs.  per 
couple.  The  feathers,  too,  are  worth  a  little ;  indeed  we  fancy  in 
many  a  home  “goose  feather  bed”  might  be  read  “duck”  without' 
being  far  wrong.  Carriage  and  commission  per  bird  may  be  reckoned 
at  3d. 
Great  attention  should  be  given  to  the  production  of  eggs  fom 
sitting  purposes — i.e.,  strong,  healthy  birds  can  only  be  expected  from 
eggs  where  the  parents  are  not  too  closely  related,  nor  too  artificially 
fed. 
We  have  omitted  one  small  item  in  the  food  list.  It  is  given  with 
the  food,  though  not  of  it — <jrit.  It  matters  not  what  may  be  the 
nature  of  i lie  fowl  kept,  it  must  be  supplied  with  teeth,  and  these 
teeth  are  internal.  Bits  of  sharp  flint,  pebbles,  the  bird  by  instinct' 
picks  up,  and  when  in  confinement  care  must  be  taken  that  an 
adequate  supply  be  provided.  There  can  be  no  good  digestion  without 
mastication  or  its  equivalent. 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
The  rattle  of  the  reaper  has  ceased,  but  the  rattle  of  the  waggon  has 
not  yet  been  heard.  No  hay  has  been  got  so  far,  and  many  farmers  are 
beginning  to  be  anxious.  The  rainfall  has  been  neither  heavy  nor 
continuous,  but  it  has  been  sufficient  on  every  day  to  prevent  successful 
haymaking.  Crops  are  very  heavy,  and  this  makes  greater  the  difficulty 
of  making  the  hay  when  showers  are  so  frequpnt.  We  do  not  believe  in 
moving  the  crop  about  much  in  showery  weather  ;  it  must  be  watched,  to 
see  that  it  does  not  become  rotten  in  the  swathe.  If  there  are  signs  of 
it  turning  yellow,  the  swathe  had  better  be  turned  over  without  more 
disturbance  than  is  necessary.  Wait  for  the  prospect  of  a  really  fine  day, 
spread  out  quickly  in  the  morning,  and  get  it  into  cock  before  night. 
Once  in  cock  it  can  take  no  material  harm,  and  if  it  is  not  sufficiently 
made  for  carting  wait  a  day  or  two,  turning  the  cocks  over  every  day 
about  noon,  and  cart  as  soon  as  thought  advisable. 
Cattle  and  sheep  are  doing  well,  and  have  abundance  of  pasture. 
Markets,  however,  are  very  slack,  and  fat  stock  are  not  making  a  remunera¬ 
tive  price.  Thire  is  a  fair  demand  for  holding  sheep  at  hardening  rates. 
We  cannot  too  earnestly  impress  on  farmers  the  necessity  of  dipping 
their  flocks,  and  particularly  about  this  time  of  year.  The  cleverest  flock- 
masters  we  know  always  dip  their  sheep  four  times  during  the  year,  and 
the  midsummer  and  September  dippings  are  looked  upon  as  being  the 
most  essential.  We  were  talking  to  two  neighbouring  shepherds  a  few 
days  ago,  and  were  struck  with  the  fact  that  whereas  one  had  only  met 
with  one  case  of  fly-maggot  in  his  flock,  the  other’s  experience  was 
exactly  opposite.  A  few  questions  elicited  the  two  facts  that  the  sheep 
that  were  exempt  from  attack  had  been  dipped,  whereas  the  others  had 
not.  Surely  the  saving  of  labour  and  close  attention  which  has  been  thus 
obtained  by  dipping  is  worth  the  cost,  even  if  no  account  be  taken  of  the 
difference  to  the  poor  sheep  themselves. 
METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden  Square,  London. 
Lat.  51°  32'  40"  N.;  Long.  0°  x'  0"  W.:  Altitude  111  feet. 
Date. 
9  A.M. 
In  the  Day. 
d 
iL» 
3-4 
1898. 
July. 
Barometer 
at  32°,  and 
Sea  Level 
Hygrometer 
Direc¬ 
tion  of 
Wind. 
Temp, 
of  soil 
at 
1  foot 
Shade Tern, 
perature. 
Radiation 
Tempera¬ 
ture 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun 
On 
Grass 
inchs 
deg. 
deg. 
leg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
inchs 
Sunday  .... 
3 
30-007 
61-2 
51-7 
N. 
61-3 
71-9 
49-8 
125-1 
48-8 
— 
Monday  .... 
4 
30-080 
55-2 
49T 
N. 
61-8 
68-9 
50-4 
120-8 
48-3 
— 
Tuesday  .... 
5 
30-315 
64-1 
54-7 
N.W. 
61-7 
71-2 
47-3 
117-9 
46-3 
— 
W  ednesday 
6 
30-299 
65-1 
58-6 
N.W. 
62-4 
77-9 
5S-4 
126-8 
57-1 
— 
Thursday  . . 
7 
30-243 
69-3 
61-2 
N.W. 
63-2 
76-0 
56-2 
121-6 
50-2 
— 
Friday . 
8 
30-191 
64-3 
57  -3 
N. 
63-0 
71-4 
52T 
116-9 
47-1 
— 
Saturday .... 
9 
30-302 
55-9 
51-8 
N. 
62-4 
64-6 
48-8 
91-2 
43-9 
— 
30-205 
62-2 
54-9 
62-3 
71-7 
51-9 
117-2 
48-8 
— 
REMARKS. 
3rd. — Bright  sunshine  almost  throughout. 
4th. — Pine  and  pleasant,  but  cloudy  at  times  in  morning. 
5th. — Sunny  morning  ;  generally  overcast  from  noon. 
6th. — Generally  overcast  till  noon  ;  frequent  sunshine  after. 
7th.— Sunny  early  and  late,  but  overcast  for  three  or  four  hours  during  the  day. 
8th.— Bright  till  11  a.m.  and  after  3.80  P.M.,  overcast  between. 
9th. — Overcast  almost  throughout,  but  a  little  sun  towards  sunset. 
A  rainless  week,  with  temperature  near,  but  rather  below,  the  average. — 
G.  J.  Symons. 
