CHAP. XI.] FARMING FOR LADIES. 243 



is a much better plan to keep the breedhig 

 geese for the whole of their natural lives, 

 than to kill them ; as they will become better 

 layers and sitters, as well as more careful 

 nurses, as they grow older. 



The goose usually lays from twelve to ff teen 

 or eighteen eggs, at two or three times in the 

 season : thus producing altogether about fifty 

 in the course of the year ; and instances have 

 occurred of a goose having layed upwards of 

 one hundred eggs within the year : but that 

 rarely happens. The eggs are very large, and 

 seldom eaten alone, in their natural state ; but 

 we have tasted them at the breakfast-table, 

 and when quite fresh, have not found them so 

 strong in flavour as people generally imagine : 

 we believe they are even highly approved of 

 by cooks. 



Geese never lay during the winter, and do 

 not commence in the spring until some time 

 in the month of March, or, if the spring be 

 mild, in the latter end of February — earlier 

 or later, according to the weather, and the 

 mode in which they are managed ; for, if well 

 fed and sheltered, the sooner will they begin. 

 Breeders for the market, therefore, commonly 



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