3 do Experiments and Olservations on Feather i, 



gives in general a pound of feathers; a young one furni&heg 

 always half a pound. 



Geese destined for peopling farm -yards, and which arc 

 what is called old geese, may, indeed, be plucked thrice a 

 year, without inconvenience, at an interval of seven weeks j 

 but young ones before they are subjected to this operation 

 ruist have attained to the age of thirteen or fourteen weeks, 

 and especially those soon destined for the table, because 

 they would become meagre, and lose their quality. 



The nature of the food contributes very much to the 

 value of down, and to the strength of feathers : the par- 

 ticular care taken of geese has uo less influence. It has 

 been remarked, that in places where these birds find a great 

 deal of water they arc not so much subject to vermin, and 

 furnish feathers of a better qualitv. 



There is a sort of maturity in regard to down, which mav 

 be easily discovered, as it then falls of itself : if removed 

 too soon it will not keep, and is liable to be attacked by 

 worms. Lean geese lurnish more than those which are 

 fat : it is also more esteemed. Farmers ought never to 

 sufler feathers to be pulled from geese some time after they 

 are dead, for the purpose of being sold ; they generally smell 

 badly, and become matted : none but those plucked from 

 living ge-Qse, or geese which have been just killed, ought to 

 be introduced into commerce. In the latter case, the geese- 

 must be plucked soon, and in such a manner that the ope- 

 ration may be terminated before they are entirely cold : the 

 feathers are then much better. 



Dcs'icccdion of Feathers. 

 Whatever be the kind of birds from which feathers are 

 obtained in the greatest abuirJiance, those principally used 

 ought to be plucked from a living animal ; and they may 

 be easily known, as the barrels, when pressed between the 

 fingers, emit a bloody liquid. Those plucked after death 

 are dry, light, and liable to be attacked by insects; but 

 feathers and down of the best quality, collected before 

 moulting, and in the proper season, require, as already ob- 

 served, precautions, in order that they may be preserved iii 

 a good state. Thev are always accompanied by a fat lym- 

 phatic matter, which becoming altered would communicate 

 to them an odour exceedinglv disagreeable. They must 

 therefore be subjected to previous desiccation, and exposed 

 in an oven aher the bread has been taken from it. This 

 desiccation t)utrht even to be carried further when the fea- 

 thers arc those of aquatic birds, in consequence of their oily 

 nature. 



When 



