142 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



without difficulty, being duly provided. Afterward advantage 

 must be taken of a fine warm sun to turn them out on grass 

 for a few hours ; but if cold and damp, they should remain in 

 their house, in which every attention should be paid to cleanli- 

 ness by a constant supply of clean straw. After two weeks 

 we cease these special precautions against exposure to the 

 weather, and find them perfectly able to shift for themselves, 

 in company with their mothers and the others of their race. 

 For some weeks, however, extra supplies of food, such as bran 

 or corn meal mixed with boiled or steamed vegetables, may be 

 given them twice a day, morning and evening, continuing to 

 give them this food till the wings begin to cross on the back, 

 and after this, green food, which may be mixed with it, such 

 as lettuce, cabbage, beet leaves, and such like. The pond is 

 strictly forbidden them under all circumstances for the first two 

 weeks, and in severer weather for a longer period. Exposure 

 to heavy rain out of doors, and a damp floor in the house where 

 they are placed at night, are the main hazards to be avoided." 

 One of the greatest sources of profit in goose keeping is the 

 sale of the feathers ; but plucking them from the living geese 

 is a practice so full of cruelty that we can not conscientiously 

 give any directions for the process. A writer in one of the 

 magazines recommends shearing instead of plucking. He 

 says: "Feathers are but of a year's growth, and in the moult- 

 ing season they spontaneously fall off, and are supplied by a 

 fresh fleece. When, therefore, the geese are in full feather, let 

 the plumage be removed, very close to the skin, by sharp scis- 

 sors, clipping them off as sheep are shorn ; they will be renew- 

 ed at moulting in the usual course of nature. The produce 

 would not be much reduced in quantity, while the quality 

 would be greatly improved, and an indemnification be experi- 

 enced in the consciousness of not having tortured the poor bird, 

 and in the uninjured health of the fowl, and the benefit obtain- 

 ed in the succeeding crop. After this operation shall have 

 been performed, the down from the breast may be removed 

 by the same means." 



