HEMLOCK YEW STORE FEEDING. 121 



GOOSE, until they become cramped or tired, some of 

 them squatting down and remaining behind at even- 

 ing, which the good housewife sees no more. It is 

 also necessary to destroy all the HEMLOCK or deadly 

 night-shade, within the range of young geese, many 

 of which drop off annually, from eating that poison, 

 when the cause is not suspected. I know not that 

 the elder geese will eat hemlock, but I believe that 

 both the young and old have been occasionally killed 

 by swallowing slips of YEW. The young becoming 

 pretty well feathered, will also be too large to be 

 contained or brooded beneath the mother's wings, 

 and will then sleep in groups by her side, and must 

 be supplied with good and renewed straw beds, which 

 they convert into excellent dung. Being now able 

 to frequent the pond, and range the common at 

 large, the young geese will obtain their living, and 

 few people, favourably situated, allow them any 

 thing more excepting the vegetable produce of the 

 garden. 



It has, however, been my constant practice, al- 

 ways to dispense a moderate quantity of any solid 

 corn or pulse at hand, to the flocks of store geese, 

 both morning and evening, on their going out and 

 their return, in the evening more especially, toge- 

 ther with such greens as chanced to be at command : 

 cabbage, mangold leaves, lucern, tares, and occa- 

 sionally sliced carrots, and turnips. By such full 

 keeping our geese were ever in a fleshy state, and 

 attained a large size ; the young ones were also for- 

 ward and valuable breeding stock. It may be here 

 necessary to state, that the German word mangoUt, 



G 



