CHAP. XII.] FARMING FOR LADIES. 259 



duction of fat ; the want of motion also en- 

 larging the liver. The bottom of the coop is 

 warmly bedded with straw, but the back part 

 is made with a grating to allow for the passage 

 of the excrement, and in the fore-part a hole 

 is left for the head to communicate with 

 troughs, one of which is always kept full of 

 grain, and the other of water, in which char- 

 coal is usually left to steep. 



The food is chiefly Indian corn, of which a 

 bushel is generally necessary to complete the 

 process. The daily portion is steeped over- 

 night durino; the first week, and the corn is left 

 for the goose to use at her discretion; but, 

 after that, it is made into a paste mixed with 

 a little poppy-oil, which is known to be both 

 sedative and very fattening, and with this 

 the bird is crammed, in the same manner as 

 fowls, both night and morning. Within about 

 three weeks more, she finds a difficulty of 

 breathing, occasioned by the increase of the 

 liver; a lump of fat is also found growing 

 under each wing, and she must then be killed, 

 or she would die of suffocation. The liver 

 then generally weighs from one to sometimes 

 nearly two pounds, and the carcase yields, in 



s2 



