CHAPTEE XIV 



THE DOMESTIC GOOSE 



BEFOEE America had given us the turkey, the 

 goose was sought for its flesh, which does not 

 lack merit, although inferior to that of the bird 

 from the New World. Eoast goose was the dish of 

 honor at family feasts. Now that the turkey has 

 supplanted it in the solemnities of the table, it is 

 raised chiefly for its fat, which is very fine and 

 savory, rivaling butter in its uses. As to its flesh, 

 relegated to secondary rank and regarded as a mere 

 accessory, it is salted and preserved like pork. The 

 region of which Toulouse is the center is the most 

 renowned for this branch of agricultural industry. 

 Large flocks are raised there of a species of goose 

 called the Toulouse goose, remarkable for its large 

 size and its tendency to corpulence. Its pouch of 

 fat hanging down under its stomach reaches even to 

 the ground, and grows so heavy as to interfere with 

 the bird's walk. The plumage is dark gray, with 

 brown or black spots; the beak is orange, and the 

 legs flesh color. 



"When it is desired to fatten the goose to the 

 utmost limit, the process calls for the fundamental 

 conditions expounded in the chapter on the poulard ; 

 that is to say, as much food as the stomach can bear, 



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