118 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



GEESE. 



Our esteemed correspondent, 0. N. Bement, 

 writes as follows in regard to geese: 



Of all the domestic birds, none are so profitable 

 as geese, where there are facilities for keeping 

 them; for there are none .that can do so much for 

 themselves when alive, and none that come to so 

 little waste when dead. Unlike the fowl, all parts 

 of the goose are equally good. Besides which, 

 every feather is of value, greater than that of 

 every other of our domestic birds. Every house- 

 wife knows how to appreciate beds made of their 

 feathers; and in these days of steel pens, the goose 

 still possesses quills. When young, the goose is a 

 popular dish on the table, and most esteemed by 

 the epicure. How is it, then, that the goose is not 

 more popular with the farmers? It can only be ac- 

 counted for by the fact — for fact it is — that it is 

 not in every one's power to keep them. 



The chief requisites for keeping geese, are a pond 

 of water and a pasture for grazing. The latter is 

 essential, as the bird is graminiverous as well as 

 graniverous. An occasional cabbage leaf will form 

 an acceptable variety of food, and during the winter 

 any spare vegetables will help to supply the deficien- 

 cy of the pasture. If fed high, some varieties of 

 geese will often lay in autumn, but the advantage 

 of a brood of goslings in November is questionable. 



In allowing geese to range at large, it is requisite 

 to be aware that they are very destructive to all 

 garden and farm crops, as well as to young trees, 

 and must, therefore, be carefully excluded from or- 

 chards and cultivated fields. It is usual to prevent 

 them getting through the gaps or holes in fences 

 by hanging a stick or yoke across their breasts. 



They are accused by some of poisoning the grass, 

 and of rendering the spots where they feed offen- 

 sive to other grazing stock ; but the secret of this 

 is very simple. A horse bites closer than an ox, a 

 sheep goes nearer to the ground than a horse; but 

 after the sharpest shearing by sheep, the goose will 

 polish up the turf, and grow fat upon the remnants 

 of others. Consequently, where gee-e ars kept in 

 great numbers upon a small area, little will be left 

 to maintain any other grass-eating creature. But 

 if the commons are not short, it will not be found 

 that other grazing animals will object to feeding 

 either together with, or immediately after a Hock 

 of geese. 



It has already bfien said that geese are much 

 given to grazing, but we have not said that they 



improve the pasture. This, however, is the case, 

 although there is an old proverb to the effect that 

 nothing will eat after a goose — whereas the auxili- 

 ary verb should be ca?i, and not will. The fact is, 

 the goose will thrive on a pasture so short that a 

 goat would starve on it; and the consequence is a 

 short, sweet herbage. 



Although water is the natural element of geese, 

 yet it is a curious fact that they feed much faster ia 

 situations remote from rivers or ponds. They 

 should not be allowed to run at large when they 

 are fattening, as they do not acquire liesh nearly so 

 fast when allowed to take much exercise. It is 

 stated that geese can be raised, in a proper situa- 

 tion, at a profit far greater than almost any other 

 stock. But to do* this, more attention is required 

 than is usually bestowed on their keeping and 

 management. Like other fowls, they may be 

 brought by proper management to a great degree 

 of fatness; but the period at which they are the 

 fattest must be chosen to kill them, otherwise they 

 will rapidly become lean again, and many of them 

 would die. 



Oeese may be fattened at two different periods 

 of their lives — in the young state, when they are 

 termed "green geese," and when they have at- 

 tained their full growth. The methods at each 

 period are very nearly the same. A goose diet, 

 for the first two weeks, is formed of oats and water 

 mixed in a trough ; after this, the food is gradually 

 changed to barley meal mixed with water, of the 

 same crumbling consistence that has been recom- 

 mended for the goslings, the water being given sep- 

 arately in small quantities. Steamed potatoes, 

 mashed up with four quarts of buckwheat or oats, 

 ground, to the bushel, and given warn;, is an excel- 

 lent diet, and will render geese, cooped in a dark 

 place, fat enough in three weeks. 



HABITATION'. 



In selecting a situation for a goose-house, all 

 damp must be avoided ; for geese, however much 

 they may like to swim in water, are fond at all 

 times of a clean, dry place to sleep in. It is not 

 good to keep geese with other poultry; for when 

 confined in the poultry yard they become very 

 quarrelsome, and harrass and injure the other 

 fowls; therefore it is best to erect low sheds, with 

 nests partitioned off, of suitable size to accommo- 

 date them ; and there should never be over eight 

 under one roof. The larger ones generally beat 

 the smaller, in which case they should of course 

 be separated, one from the other, by partitions ex- 

 tending out some distance from the nests. The 

 nests for hatching should be made of fine straw, of 

 a circular snape, and so arranged that the eggs can 

 not fall out when the goose turns them. From fif- 

 teen to seventeen eggs will be as many as a large 

 goose can conveniently cover. 



In the event, of any one being induced by our 

 account to keep geese, let us recommend him not 

 to begin with young birds. They are not to be 

 depended upon for breeding till the third year, and 

 do not attain their perfection for a year or two 

 subsequent to that, age. When once in their prima 

 they never retrograde, so that, barring accidents, a 

 person possessed of a gander and three or four 

 geese (no way related to each other, and in their 

 prime of life.) may consider himself set up in the 

 anserine for life. 



