CHAP, xii.] FARMING FOR LADIES. 261 



feathers when alive ; whereas they naturally 

 shed their feathers about three times in the 

 year, and the quills twice, and if not plucked, 

 they drop them. In the fens of Lincolnshire, 

 and in Pomerania, vast numbers are therefore 

 reared merely for that purpose, and there the 

 breeders generally pluck them Jive, and even 

 six times, between Lady-day and Martinmas, 

 which is a practice that cannot be too much 

 reprobated, as not unfrequently exposing the 

 poor creatures to death, from cold, in an in- 

 clement season; but those who feed them 

 merely for their flesh should never neglect to 

 pluck them at proper times, as the feathers 

 are valuable, and if allowed to drop, would 

 become pure waste. 



The feathers are worth saving ; and as we 

 make it a maxim, in household economy, that 

 " nothing should be thrown away,." they should 

 be put aside in any box or bag until sufficient 

 are collected to have them properly dried : 

 which is done by putting them, at two or three 

 different times, for a few hours in the oven, 

 after baking ; for, if the quill part of the 

 feathers be not completely dried of its sap, it 

 will be decomposed* and become putrid. 



