Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-01-05
ELDER DUCK FARMING
IcELAND's INDUSTRY TAKES LITTLE
LABOR AND INGENUITY.

LABOR AND tN0eNOIit.
rwo Crops Are Gathered Each Season.
which Are Worth About o5 . Pound.
How to KIN tho Goose That Lays the
Golden Esss-The Harvest Time.
Now, there are pleasanter capitals to re-
tide in than Reykj avik. the chief town OF
Iceland. There are cities which have
reached point somewhat Daarer civic per
lection than it can at present boast Of. but
those who take the trouble to journey
thither will find much to interest them.
The city, for it's cathedral authorizes the
use of the word, consists of q struggling col
lection of wooden houses, which remind
the traveller of some small and desolate vii
lage on the west coast of Scotland.
a large square building, like some giant
barn or mammoth county constabulary,
first strikes the eye. This is the governors
house, almost the only stone building in
the town.
All tho available space on the shore not
taken up with houses is covered with cod
fish drying in the sun and giving out an
intolerable stencil.
All the rocks, palings and even the roofs
Of the houses themselves are covered with
these cleaning testimonies of the city 8
chief occupation or trade
Other products of the place are elder
down, horses and hot water. One OF the
largest elder duck farms is situated on a
small island in the bay, and, with the per-
mission of the owner, can be visited by
strangers.
The scene is not without interest. Be
hind, far away ON the horizon line, rises the
snow capped peak of the Snaefel Jokuls,
nearly 6,0OO feet in height, which, though
more than 10 miles away, glistens and
shines like silver in the morning sun.
In front lies Reyk javik, the civil and &C.
clesiastical metropolis of Iceland. Not
much agricultural labor or ingenuity is ex-
pended by the cider duck farmer upon his
property 1t consists for the most part of
large open field of stunted grass. which
has been blown by the wind and worked by
the action of the weather into round hum
mocks, such as may be frequently met with
all over the barren and devastated country
of Iceland.
In the recesses and holes and cavities be-
tween the hummocks the elder ducks may
he seen sitting ON their nests. OF these
there are several scores, and the birds them
selves when sitting are perfectly tame, some
of them even allowing a stranger to stroke
them with the hand.
They are not all Matched at the same
time, and many are still in the egg when
others are Matched and swimming about in
the sea.
The drake, as is frequently the case with
the female bird, is handsome, snowy crea-
ture, with much white in his plumage He
is excessively shy and wary, while the fe-
male, whose plumage is brown and glossy,
is, on the contrary, tame and confiding.
The duck lays from five to six eggs at the
beginning of June, and it is no unusual
thing to find from 10 to 16 eggs in one nest,
together with two females, who sit either
at intervals or, if necessary, both together
at the same time, and, strange to say, seem
to agree remarkably well with one another.
The period of laying lasts some six or
seven weeks, and the birds are in the habit
of laying three times in different places.
From the first and second of these both the
down and the eggs are taken away, but
from the last it is very seldom that the
farmer removes either l' So. ~. e.
Should he do SO with any degree of per
sistence the birds would desert the locality,
and he is not such u fool as to destroy the
duck with the golden eggs
In some cases the owner resides on or
near the farm. In this particular instance
he visited the island from the mainland
once a week at the least. .s.--
AS soon as he and his men arrive at the
nest they carefully remove the female and
take away the superfluous down and eggs.
The duck Immediately begins to lay afresh
and covers her eggs with new down which
she plucks from her own breast. If the sup
ply is inadequate, the male comes to her as
sistance and helps to cover the eggs with
his down.
This, being white, is easily distinguished
from the brown covering which the female
supplies and is not SO good in quality.
The nest is now. as a general rule, left
until the young ones are Matched. There
is not much callowncss and helplessness
about these youngsters. About an hour
after they are out of the shell they quit the
nest together, when it is once more plum
dered.
The best down and the greatest number
of eggs are obtained during the first three
weeks OF the laying period, and it has in
general been observed that the birds lay
the greatest number of eggs in rainy
weather.
The female is close and persistent sit
ter, and SO long as she is sitting the male,
with coinmendablc constancy, remains on
the watch hard by, but as soon as the
young are Matched he considers his respon-
sibility at an end, and leaves them to their
own devices and the care of their mother.
It is curious and pretty sight to sec
how the latter looks after her brood She
leads them out of the nest as soon as they
creep out of the eggs and precedes them to
the water, while they toddle after her.
When she reaches the waterside she takes
them on her back and swims with them for
a few yards. She then dives, and the
young ones are left floating on the water
like yellow corks and henceforth are obliged
to look after themselves.
Indeed the farmer seldom sees his flock
again till the next breeding season, for they
become comparatively wild and live out
among the damp rocks in the sea, where
they feed upon insects and seaweeds and
other like vivers.
Some idea of the value of the crop NAV
be Cleaned from the fact that one female
during the whole time of laying generally
gives half pound of down, which is, how
ever, reduced one-half after it Is cleaned.
This down is divided into thang dunn or
Sanyvoed down and oras dupp nv s,,r..