FARM ANIMALS 343 



by removing the eggs from the goose. The eggs 

 may be hatched under hens or in incubators, the 

 period of incubation being from twenty-eight to 

 thirty days or sometimes longer. Goslings require 

 little or no food during the first 24 hours but should 

 have water to drink. It should be remembered 

 that geese, like ducks, have no crop and therefore 

 should be fed at frequent intervals. They should 

 first be allowed to eat green grass and should also 

 receive soaked grain, corn, oat meal or corn meal 

 mixed with sweet skim milk with a little sand added. 

 With young geese green feed is exceedingly impor- 

 tant and with either clover or alfalfa pasture they 

 will maintain themselves without any other food 

 unless an attempt is being made to force them to an 

 early maturity. In the production of "green 

 geese" the fattening period should begin when the 

 long wing feathers have grown sufficiently to reach 

 the tail. The geese should be penned up in fairly 

 close quarters and should be fed two or three times 

 daily on a soft mash containing four parts Indian 

 meal, one part beef scraps, slightly salted. During 

 the middle of the day they may receive whole grain, 

 especially if soaked. Toulouse geese crammed by 

 hand for five weeks on one pound of corn meal 

 daily produce a liver which weighs from two and 

 one-half to four pounds. This is an important 

 industry in France and other European countries 

 where the foie gras commands a large price on the 

 market. The feeding period for foie gras lasts 

 about four to six weeks and the birds are fed two 

 or three times daily. In England the preferred 

 ration for this purpose is one and one-half pounds 

 of a mixture of corn and cracked beans per day. 

 According to another system of feeding young 

 goslings they receive the first three days the same 



