GOOSE-FARMING IN ENGLAND. 



597 



market, and are affirmed to be equal in flavour 

 and quality to the Canvass-back duck. It is by 

 no means certain that British consumers can be 

 educated to a similar taste ; but it is possible, 

 perhaps probable, that earlier birds of smaller 

 size and such surpassing quality might find more 

 room, and create a demand, as they have done 

 across the Atlantic. The earliest would cost 

 very little to feed, being killed as "green" 

 geese ; and up to Michaelmas the stubbles would 

 afford nearly all that was required. 



Now that the margin is narrower, causes of 

 unprofitableness in the breeding stock must also 

 be avoided. Totally unlike fowls in this respect, 

 geese require time to get acquainted and to mate, 

 and fresh stock is very often put together too 

 late, with the consequence that eggs fail to 

 hatch. They will not breed together, a;; a rule 

 (we speak of the ordinary breeds), until th-jy have 

 been acquainted for some time, and otten not at 

 all the first season, unless put together early. 

 Two-year-old birds are the strongest, and these 

 should be put together not later than the begin- 

 ning of November, if possible. It is really better 

 in general to buy young stock, and indeed good 

 adult stock is often very difficult to procure ; but 

 young birds should be bought chiefly in antici- 

 pation of what they will produce the following 

 season and afterwards. From this point of view 

 the amorous disposition and generally much 

 quicker mating of the African goose may 

 offer the goose-breeder solid advantages. The 

 progeny of this bird with Embden is mainly 

 white, and the flesh is considered in America less 

 gross, or more delicate, than the old-fashioned 

 Ernbden and Toulouse cross. 



Geese are generally killed by piercing the brain 

 from the back of the skull. A spot will be found 

 there just where head and neck join, at which 

 there is no protecting bone — there the knife is 

 inserted, and also severs a principal artery. 

 Many killers first stun the bird by a sharp blow 

 on the back of the head, which obviates pain and 

 struggling, provided it be done with sure hand 

 and eye. Some feeders stick them in the roof 

 of the mouth, after stunning them as above. 

 They are usually plucked before bleeding has 

 ceased. 



The best geese of France are largely fed upon 

 whole buckwheat, given in troughs of water. This 

 produces white flesh, with scarcely any fat, while 

 the same grain, ground into meal, is said to 

 produce too much fat. This confirms the results 

 in England from feeding upon white oats in 

 water. The best of these French geese are sent 

 to Paris, where they realise as much as i4 francs 

 per pound, and only inferior produce is sent over 

 for the cheaper markets in England. 



The largest consumers of geese upon the 

 Continent are the Germans, whose taste is 

 exactly suited by the rich flesh of this bird. 

 Enormous numbers are reared at home, every 

 farmer keeping more or less ; but, in addition, 

 immense quantities are imported from Russia. 

 An interesting report from the British Consul- 

 General at Berlin, in igoi, states that a special 

 " goose-train " of from fifteen to forty cars 

 arrives in that city daily from the Russian 

 frontier, fitted specially for, and occupied 

 solely with, this traffic. The latest figures pro- 

 curable show that in 1909 these imported 

 Russian live geese numbered 6,681,723, and 

 were of the value of ;£'i,i35,900. These 

 figures indicate that 895,361 more Russian 

 geese were imported into Germany in 1909 than 

 m 1899, and that the increase in value was 

 7jd. a bird, or 21.65 P'^'^ cent. 



The industry of goose-fattening on a whole- 

 sale scale has only developed in the United 

 States quite recently, Mr. E. A. Cornell, of 

 Rhode Island, being the principal pioneer. 

 He has lately been in the habit of fattening 

 from 12,000 to 15,000 annually, breeding none, 

 but collecting them from the farmers round, 

 none of whom rear more than a moderate 

 number. He has laid down plant costing about 

 15,000 dollars, and up to last accounts had 

 been in the habit of penning about 300 together 

 in one pen. The birds, when ready, were sent 

 to New York, where they fetched the top price 

 as "Rhode Island geese," and considerably 

 more than the breeders themselves could realise 

 by their old methods. Similar business has 

 been carried on by several smaller men. But 

 during the last few years the system has been 

 put in jeopardy by the outbreak of a disease 

 known as goose cholera, which runs its course 

 so rapidly, that birds affected almost always 

 die within 36 hours of experimental infection, 

 and often within less than an hour of the first 

 apparent symptoms. The chief of these are 

 staggering gait and agonised motions of the 

 head, in the dirt and otherwise, that appear 

 to denote spasm of the glottis ; the passages 

 being found full of mucus and the blood- 

 vessels much congested. The liver is studded 

 thickly with yellow nodules. Mr. Cornell, in 

 1900, lost thousands from this disease. A 

 bacillus was found, and pieces of the viscera 

 of dead birds fed to healthy geese caused 

 death in less than 30 hours. The success of 

 Dr. Klein with contagious fowl enteritis (see 

 next chapter) gave room to hope that a pro- 

 tective anti-toxin might be prepared from pure 

 culture of the bacillus, but this had not been 

 done up to the last advices we have received. 



