STRASBITRa GEESE. J 



POULTRY. 



[btbabburo geese. 



for the table. Early geeso require l»ome- 

 feediiig, as they have no atubble-tielda. Loudon 

 feeders, therefore, when they receive goslings 

 from the country, about Mareli or April, feed 

 them first with meal from the best barley or 

 oats, made into a liquid paste, and »ubse(juently 

 with corn, to give greater lirmuesa and con- 

 sistence to their fat. 



Geese are fattened in large numbers in some 

 places of the European continent. This is 

 especially the case in the neighbourhood of 

 Strasburg — a place celebrated for its pies. 

 There geese have a shepherd to tend them as 

 sheep have. The birds arc reared by the 

 peasantry, every one of whom is possessed of 

 some stock of these valuable fowls ; and the 

 shepherd, every morning, wakes the echoes of 

 the village by the sound of a trumpet, with 

 which he assembles his feathered Hock, which, 

 in the company of a herd of pigs, repairs to 

 pasture on the common devoted to that pur- 

 pose. In the evening, the shepherd leads back 

 his tlock ; but, before they arrive at the village, 

 almost all the geese take flight, rise above the 

 roofs, and settle down in their respective 

 homes. They flap their wings, cross, and fly 

 against each other in the air, uttering a cry 

 not unlike the note of a hoarse trumpet, and 

 presenting an animated scene to the delighted 

 villagers. 



Towards autumn the peasants carry to town 

 their finest birds, and occupy a place in the 

 market, which is so large as to furnish a very 

 great number with plenty of accommodation. 

 One hundred and fifty thousand geese annually 

 pass through the market of Strasburg. The 

 woman who fattens them is acquainted with 

 those peasants who come from where the best 

 geese are produced. She fingers the bird to 

 assure herself that the body is well formed ; 

 examines the foot and beak, to determine its 

 age ; then makes her bargain, and carries home 

 her purchase. When she returns, she places 

 the goose in a separate compartment, and feeds 

 it with marsh-beans. As soon as it is considered 

 sufficiently strong to undergo the process of 

 fattening, this is begun. The pupil passes into 

 a higher class, and is fed with maize, steeped 

 in salt water. Erom this time the feeding is 

 regular and forced. It is admitted, now-a-days, 

 that geese ought to be fattened without exer- 

 cise ; therefore they are packed, about thirty 



together, in a stable, and, during the last eight 

 days of tho fattening, they are placed in a cago 

 open at the top. It is tho skill of the trainer, 

 in this latter period, that determines tho suc- 

 cess of tho operation ; and as it is nece»sary to 

 kill the bird just at tho time when tlio liver 

 will remain white and firm — night and day 

 must this favourable moment bo watciied for. 

 Tiie following is the manner in wliich tho fat- 

 tening process is carried on : — Tiie feeder places 

 tho gooso between her knees, and holds tl.o 

 wings fast, whilst the feet are left free. With 

 one hand she holds the beak open ; with the 

 other she drops tho grains of maize into the 

 throat, and pushi's them homo with her fore- 

 finger. This operation is gone through regu- 

 larly thrice a-day. One woman alone cannot 

 cram more than twelve geese an iiour. Au 

 estimate of tlie labour may be made i'rom the 

 fact, that 200 geese are often trained by the 

 same feeder. The bird being killed, plucked, 

 and disjointed, the feeder hangs it up in an 

 airy place ; and not until twenty-four hours 

 have elapsed can she judge of the condition of 

 her treasure. She then takes down the bird, 

 and carefully efl'ects the extraction of the 

 much-esteemed liver, which is immediately 

 taken to the pie-makers, who make of it the 

 well-known pies. Matthieu, the cook of Car- 

 dinal de Rohan, was the first who suggested 

 the use of the liver of the goose for pies. Suc- 

 cess crowned his efibrts ; and from that period 

 the fattening of geese became a trade. It is 

 by the feeding of geese, that the wife of the 

 mechanic, who is deprived of work in the win- 

 ter-time, supports her family. Other women, 

 who have a little capital, carry on feeding on a 

 larger scale. The business is a very arduous 

 one. The woman has to rise two or three times 

 in the night, and inspect her stock ; geese, dur- 

 ing the latter period of their feeding, being sub- 

 I ject to apoplexy. This dreadful watch-woman 

 { marches about with a sharp knife, to cut the 

 I throat of the first which shows symptoms of 

 sufibcation. Every goose that dies against 

 rules, occasions to its owner a clear loss of 

 more than 65., besides labour and time. A 

 goose costs from 2^. Gd. to '3s. in the market ; 

 and, on an average, it consumes, in food, about 

 2s. (id. Killed in good condition, it ought to 

 weigh from 6 to 7 lbs., and is worth about Gd. 

 per lb. It yields, besides, 1 lb. of fat, worth 



877 



