246 FARMING FOR LADIES. [chap. xi. 



most authors advise their being taken from 

 their mother, and kept warm until the hatch- 

 ing of the whole brood is complete, yet 

 we say, "leave nature to herself;" instinct 

 teaches the parent to do what is right, and 

 she neither needs nor cares for our assist- 

 ance : so far from it, indeed, that she will 

 resist any attempt of the kind. 



The goslings should, at first, have a little 

 paste of any kind of coarse meal or the rasp- 

 ings of bread, mixed up with curds and milk ; 

 then grits may be added, and within a few 

 days, bruised boiled potatoes may be substi- 

 tuted for the curds and milk, and chopped 

 lettuce and nettle-tops may be given to them. 

 Like all young things, they should, in short, 

 be allowed as much nutritious food as their 

 nature requires ; but care should be taken 

 to prevent its being of such a kind as to 

 occasion diarrhoea, and they should be care- 

 fully guarded from cold, as well as wet ; for 

 they are extremely tender during the first 

 month of their existence, or until the soft 

 down with which they are covered acquires 

 strength enough to protect them. They 

 should, therefore, never be exposed to the 



