Feeding TuTheys, Geese, and Ducks for the London Market. 535 



under tlieir savoury influence for draft ewes and wethers. Farmers 

 all over England are supplied very largely both from Holland 

 and Ireland. Geese are extensively bred in Moravia ; and the hilly 

 districts in Germany and Holland are peopled by a number of 

 small goose-farmers, who get their living entirely by them. The 

 Hussenheim goose-market is a very large one and of great an- 

 tiquity, and, according to local tradition, the town owes its name 

 to the bird of its choice. The Dutch hucksters buy goslings from 

 the cotters, — who, like the burghers, are remarkable for turning 

 the penny the right way, — at prices varying from Is. 6(7. to 'Is* 

 They are driven to Rotterdam, where they are packed up in 

 crates, which are capable of holding about fifty or sixty each. 

 Their voyage to Hull by the steamers is charged at I85. per cwt., 

 or about 5/. for 300 or 400 birds, and they are not fed until they 

 are landed, and then with oats. From Hull they are forwarded 

 to central market towns in railway trucks, each of which is 

 capable of holding 230 birds. A small percentage of the more 

 weakly ones die from being trampled on, and these casualties, 

 with the expense of transit and sale attendants, bring up the price 

 to about 3^. 9^., when they are pitched in the market during 

 August and September. The Irish collections are managed on a 

 similar principle. If the goslings are purchased within reasonable 

 distance of Dublin or Dundalk, they are driven to those ports, 

 and if not, they are sent by rail. Liverpool, like Hull, is quite 

 a " board of supply " for English dealers during the season. 



Considerable supplies of ducks are also brought from Holland, 

 and some turkeys as well ; but the Norwich dealers' duck-supplies 

 are mostly gathered in through the hucksters, from the small 

 cottagers in the county. Rouens and Aylesburys have not been 

 much used for crossing, and the supplies are generally of the 

 small mixed brown and cinnamon sort, which has subsisted since 

 the flood. The cottagers do not force their ducklings, but sell 

 them to the dealers, one of whom takes 30,000 a year, principally 

 in the duck-and-green-pea season. They come to him about 

 3 lbs. in weight, and after a week in the lean and three in the 

 fat yard, they are turned out in prime condition, and with fully 

 1 lb. gain in flesh. 



10, Kemington Square. 



* We are indebted for these calculations to the ' Doncaster Gazette.' 



2 N 2 



