AQUATIC FOWLS. 



251 



go and shut up the boxes in which the remain- 

 der were sitting ; consequently, when the goose 

 returned, she found only her own box open. 

 Soon as she had entered, the whole of the doors 

 were again opened, and the same rule observed 

 throughout the period of hatching. In follow- 

 ing this style of management, every goose was 

 kept to its own nest. There were one hundred 

 and twenty eggs set altogether, twelve to each 

 of the breeding-geese before alluded to ; and at 

 the end of four weeks which is the usual pe- 

 riod of incubation there were eighty-eight gos- 

 lings, produced all in one day, and they formed 

 a beautiful sight. 



"When first hatched, the goslings are of a 

 very delicate and tender constitution. My fa- 

 ther's general practice is, to let them remain in 

 the box in which they were hatched for twenty- 

 four hours after they leave the shell ; but he 

 regulates this by the weather, which, if fair and 

 warm, may tolerate the letting the goslings out 

 an hour or two in the middle of the day, when 

 they may wet their little bills, and nibble at the 

 grass. They ought not to be out in the rain at 

 any time during the first month. A shallow 

 pool dug in the yard, with a bucket or two of 

 water thrown into it, to suit the temporary pur- 

 pose of bathing, is sufficient during the period 

 named. 



" The practice of feeding my father follows 

 is not to give the goslings any grain whatever, 

 after they are four days old, until snow falls, 

 when they require to be fed on corn for a time. 

 He thinks, however, if well fed on grain from 

 the time they were hatched, they might weigh 

 from four to seven pounds more than by leaving 

 them to grass-feeding alone. 



"By feeding his geese until they are four 

 days old, and then literally 'sending them to 

 grass,' the weight of my father's geese, at seven 

 to eight months old, has averaged from 17 to 

 18 pounds each after the feathers have been 

 cleanly picked off. He has no doubt that 25 

 pounds could be easily attained by a little atten- 

 tion to feeding with grain. 



"The breeding-boxes before mentioned are 

 made in the fashion something like a dog-ken- 

 nel, with a roof pitched both ways. They are 

 30 inches long by 24 inches wide, and are 24 



inches high. The door is in the end, and is 

 covei'ed by a sliding pannel, which moves up- 

 ward when egress or ingress is sought, and may 

 be shut down at pleasure. For the first month 

 the geese and goslings are all shut up in the 

 boxes at night, in order to protect them against 

 rain and vermin." 



We were always under the impression that 

 Mr. James Sisson, of Warren, Rhode Island, 

 was the first importer of these superior geese ; 

 but it appears incorrect from the following ac- 

 count of them, published in the New England 

 Farmer: "In the fall of 1826," says Mr. S., "I 

 imported from Bremen (north of Germany) 

 three full-blooded perfectly white geese. I 

 have sold their progeny for three successive sea- 

 sons; the first year at $15 per pair, the two 

 successive years at $12. Their properties are 

 peculiar: they lay in February; sit and hatch 

 with more certainty than common geese; will 

 weigh nearly, and, in some instances, quite twice 

 the weight ; have double the quantity of feath- 

 ers ; never fly ; and are all of a beautiful snowy 

 whiteness." 



ASIATIC OR INDIAN GEESE. 



There appear to be three or four varieties 

 which will come under this denomination, viz., 

 the Hong Kong by some writers called the 

 African, Guinea, and Swan goose the Brown 

 Chinese, and the White Chinese goose. The 

 Indian, Mountain, and Poland are probably hy- 

 brids or mongrels. 



There is an old joke about a Spanish Don, 

 who knocked at a cottage-door to ask a night's 

 lodging. " Who's there ? What do you want ?" 

 said the inmates. " Don Juan Jose Pedro An- 

 tonio Carlos Geronimo, etc., etc., wants to sleep 

 here to-night." "Get along with you!" was 

 the reply ; " how should we find room here for 

 so many fellows?" The Chinese goose is in 

 the same position as the Spanish Don. It bus 

 names enough, says Dixon, to fill a menagerie 

 China goose, Hong Kong goose, Knob goose. 

 Swan goose, Asiatic goose, Guinea goose, Span- 

 ish goose, Poland goose, Muscovy goose, and 

 the Lord only knows how many more. 



Confusion, therefore, and perplexity are the 

 certain lot of whosoever attempts to trace this 



