260 FARMING FOR LADIES, [chap. xii. 



roasting, from three to five pounds of fat, 

 which is used in cooking, as being superior 

 for that purpose to either lard or butter. 



One would imagine that this process of en- 

 larging the liver would render the goose so 

 diseased as to make her lean, and injure the 

 flavour of the flesh ; but this is so far from the 

 fact, that both fat and flesh increase with 

 wonderful rapidity, and are of first-rate quality. 

 We can speak of this from our own know- 

 ledge ; for having been some years ago on a 

 visit to a relation at Toulouse, we have there 

 eaten of geese fattened in that manner, and 

 certainly finer meat, of that description, we 

 never tasted. The practice is so old, that it 

 was, ages ago, common to the ancient Romans, 

 who prized the livers as highly as any modern 

 civic alderman ; but all that has been said 

 and written respecting its cruelty only betrays 

 a want of practical acquaintance with the 

 subject, for the animal very soon submits con- 

 tentedly to a plan that gorges it with food 

 which it loves. 



Another absurd prejudice regarding the 

 treatment of geese is the idea so generally 

 entertained of the cruelty of plucking their 



