418 THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 



wards, when spring really comes in March, it cannot resist its 

 genial influence. The autumnal Eggs afford useful employ- 

 ment to Turkeys or Hens that choose to sit at unseasonable 

 times : and the period of incubation, thirty days, is less tedious 

 than that required for the Eggs of China Geese or Musk 

 Ducks. A dry, airy lean-to or shed, and the gleanings of a 

 kitchen-garden, are all that are needful to rear the young. 

 Their great enemy will be the cramp, which may be kept off 

 by making them sleep on dry straw, and turning them out 

 with their mother for an hour or two every mild and open day. 

 When winter Goslings are expected, a Michaelmas planting 

 (not sowing) of lettuce and endive should be made ; the latter 

 will be found particularly serviceable, as also the tender parts 

 of turnip tops. A living turf laid down in the out-house and 

 changed occasionally, will be relished. A little boiled rice, 

 daily, assists their growth, with corn, of course, as soon as they 

 can eat it. A rushlight burnt in a Goose-house during the 

 fifteen or sixteen hours of darkness in winter, has been suc- 

 cessfully employed to induce the Goslings to eat. And when 

 it is remembered that the candle costs the fraction of a penny, 

 while an early green Goose is worth from seven shillings to 

 half a guinea, it will be seen that the expense is not thrown 

 away. Almost all breeders of Goslings administer, by cram- 

 ming, long half-dried pellets, composed of raw Egg and wheat 

 flour ; it is an old practice, but is unnecessary, except during 

 midwinter. 



We give Columella's directions for rearing : 

 " And the Gosling, while he is very little, is shut up in a 

 pen for the first ten , days, and fed along with his mother : 

 afterwards, when the fine weather permits, he is led forth into 

 the meadows, and to the fish-ponds. And care must be taken 

 that he is neither stung by nettles, nor sent fasting to the 

 pasture, but has his appetite satisfied beforehand with 1 chopped 

 endive or lettuce leaves. For if he goes to pasture still weak 



