250 FARMING FOR LADIES. [chap. xii. 



good condition, they will neither grow to a 

 large size nor be easily rendered fat. There 

 are, however, not many persons who have 

 the advantage of a common ; and even those 

 who have paddocks attached to their houses 

 are frequently deterred from feeding geese, 

 under a very universally entertained appre- 

 hension that the ordure of the bird is so 

 offensive as to prevent cows from eating any 

 grass which is near it. Though certainly 

 their droppings will not be found to injure 

 the future crop of hay, and all objection may 

 be avoided by merely hurdling off a portion 

 of a field for the use of the geese. 



In the process of fatting, barley and oats 

 are both generally employed, partly in meal, 

 made into paste either with milk, or more 

 frequently with pot-liquor, to which most 

 breeders add a little suet, and some a good 

 quantity of chandlers' greaves. This, al- 

 though it will fatten them quickly, yet, if 

 much grease be used, renders the flesh rather 

 oily ; and the better mode, if you wish to 

 have it of firm texture and good flavour, is 

 to feed them solely upon oats in the natural 

 state, of which a bushel will usually be more 



i 



