The drake and two ducks you shipped to me on the 26th inst. arrived this evening, and are apparently in very good "trim" after their four days' journey. They are the finest looking ducks I ever saw and I have seen many thousands. I am more than pleased with them. Thanking you for your prompt and fair dealing with me I am sincerely yours, J. W. MORGAN, Sr., Port Arthur, Ont., Canada. * * * * * COMMISSION HOUSE OF W. H. RUDD & SON, No. 10 Merchants' Row, Boston. Friend Rankin--With the exception of yourself, we doubtless hatch and raise more poultry, by actual count, than any one on this continent. We do it entirely by artificial means, and shall never employ any other so long as we raise poultry at all and retain our senses. At our headquarters, in Boston, we receive and handle, to say the very least, as many market ducks as any firm in the city, and unless we are dull scholars, we ought to form a pretty accurate opinion of the relative merits of natural and artificial methods of incubation; or perhaps better expressed, the comparative quality of poultry raised by each, whether designed for market or other purposes. We were looking over our breeding stock the other day, and certainly never saw so handsome a lot for so large numbers, and we should have to travel as far as South Easton to find as fine a flock of ducks. The best market ducks that reach Boston (present company excepted, of course), are sent there by yourself and your brother, William Rankin of Brockton; not only are they two or three weeks in advance of others, but being grown with so great rapidity gives them that fineness and firmness of flesh, a superior flavor, and excellence in general appearance which cannot be found--or at least never is found--in ducks raised in the natural way, and which must necessarily be kept much longer to attain the same height. We could refer you to the proprietors of five of the leading hotels in the city, who state that the artificially-hatched ducks furnished by us during the last few years are by far the best they ever used, and that since the raising of ducks had thus been reduced to a science, fully twice as many as formerly are now daily called for by the guests, and consequently the demand is correspondingly increased, and we predict it will continue to increase indefinitely. Your ducks sell quicker and bring more per pound than any we get. Next come those raised and sent by Mr. Carpenter and Mr. Otis, both, like ourselves, using your machines. By the way, we have now secured Mr. Otis for our superintendent at the Brighton farm, and his well-known skill and experience, combined with our own, will render it necessary for you to keep your eye peeled and look to your laurels, lest you find yourself playing second fiddle. Fraternally and very truly, W. H. RUDD & SON. * * * * * What the Boston Marketmen Say About Our Ducks. BOSTON, Aug. 8, 1898.