Of all American ducks the common mallard is the most persistent and successful breeder. It quickly becomes accustomed to captivity, it enjoys park life, and when given even half a chance it will breed and rear its young.
Unquestionably, the mallard duck can be reared in captivity in numbers limited only by the extent of breeder's facilities. The amount of net profit that can be realized depends wholly upon the business acumen and judgment displayed in the management of the flock. The total amount of knowledge necessary to success is not so very great, but at the same time, the exercise of a fair amount of intelligence, and also careful diligence, is absolutely necessary. Naturally the care and food of the flock must not cost extravagantly, or the profits will inevitably disappear.
As a contribution to the cause of game-breeding for the market, and the creation of a new industry of value, Mr. L.S. Crandall and the author wrote for the New York State Conservation Commission a pamphlet on "Breeding Mallard Ducks for Market." Copies of it can be procured of our State Conservation Commission at Albany, by enclosing ten cents in stamps.
Breeding Fur-Bearing Animals
When hundreds of persons wrote to me asking for literature on the breeding of fur-bearing animals for profit, for ten years I was compelled to tell them that there was no such literature. During the past three years a few offerings have been made, and I lose not a moment in listing them here.
"Life Histories of Northern Animals", by Ernest T. Seton (Charles Scribner's Sons, 2 volumes, $18), contains carefully written and valuable chapters on fox farming, skunk farming, marten farming, and mink farming, and other valuable life histories of the fur-bearing animals of North America.
Rod and Gun in Canada, a magazine for sportsmen published by W.J. Taylor, Woodstock, Ontario, contained in 1912 a series of articles on "The Culture of Black and Silver Foxes," by R.B. and L.V. Croft. Country Life in America has published a number of illustrated articles on fox and skunk farming.
With its usual enterprise and forethought, the Biological Survey of the Department of Agriculture has published a valuable pamphlet of 22 pages on "Silver Fox Farming," by Wilfred H. Osgood, copies of which can be procured by addressing the Secretary of Agriculture. In consulting that contribution, however, it must be borne in mind that just now, in fox farming, history is being made more rapidly than heretofore.