Small companies tend to grow faster than large ones, but large companies often have deeper financial resources that allow them to provide perks like dividends to their stockholders. Midcaps, so called because they have medium-size market capitalizations (the cost to buy all of their shares), often provide investors with a welcome blend of peppy growth and financial strength.

To find promising midcaps, I recently screened companies in the S&P MidCap 400 index for ones that have increased their dividend payments at an average rate of 10% or more over the past decade. The index contains companies with market capitalizations ranging from below $400 million to over $10 billion, with a median of just under $2.5 billion. Only 51 of the 400 index members met my dividend demand. Three particularly prosperous ones are listed below.

Owens & Minor

Dividend Yield: 2.3%

Founded in 1882, Owens & Minor distributes medical and surgical supplies to hospitals and clinics. The company bought two large competitors in 2006 and 2008, and has since steadily improved its operating efficiency. Last year, while most large American companies suffered order declines amid a sharp contraction in consumer spending, Owens enjoyed an 11% rise in sales and a 15% increase in operating profits. Cash flow more than doubled. Management has increased the dividend payment 19 times since 1987. Make that 20 if you count the company's recent announcement that in March it will raise the dividend payment again and split the shares 3-for-2.

Joy Global

Dividend Yield: 1.4%

Joy Global makes heavy mining equipment, mostly for coal and copper. Sales and profits for its fiscal year ended October 2009 increased, but that has less to do with recession resistance than with order timing. Draglines, electric shovels, crushers and other giant, costly mining machines are often ordered a year or more before delivery, so robust sales during Joy's fiscal 2009 were the result of strong demand in fiscal 2008. Orders plunged last year, and although they're now picking up thanks to higher commodity prices, which give miners an incentive to invest, sales this year are expected to fall about 18%, reflecting last year's downturn. Shares seem reasonably priced at 16 times this year's depressed earnings forecast. Joy owes little, produces plenty of free cash and has increased its dividend payment each year since 2004.

Ross Stores

Dividend Yield: 1.4%

Ross Stores promises customers brand-name clothes at discounts of 20% to 60% to department store prices. It delivers by shopping carefully for its own bargains, stocking up on garments when other chains are overstocked or when manufacturers produce too much. The company has enjoyed strong sales gains over the past year as strapped consumers have defected from posh clothing stores to Ross's 1,000 or so no-frills, mostly suburban stores. The combination of brisk sales and low operating costs has left Ross with a wider profit margin than either deep discounters like Wal-Mart or department stores like JC Penney (JCP) . Ross has spent far more on share repurchases than on dividends in recent years, but has nonetheless increased its dividend payment in each of the past 16 years, most recently in January by 45%.