RECEIPT BOOK. 185 



geese with turnips cut in small pieces like dice, 

 but less in size, and put into a trough of water; 

 with this food alone, the effect was that 6 geese, 

 each when lean weighing only 9 lbs,, actually 

 gained 20 pounds each in about S weeks fattening. 



Malt is an excellent food for geese and turkeys, 

 grains are preferred for the sake of economy, un- 

 less for immediate and rapid fattening: the grains 

 should be boiled afresh. 



Other cheap articles for fattening are oatmeal 

 and treacle; barley-meal and milk; boiled oats 

 and ground malt. 



Corn before being given to fowls should always 

 be crushed and soaked in water. The food will 

 thus go further, and it will help digestion. Hens 

 fed thus have been known to lay during the whole 

 of tb**- winter months. 



Ctre of dropsy in the crops of young turkeys. 



This Kmd of dropsy is announced by a dull 

 look paleness of the head, loss of appetite, and a- 

 vcrsion to food. The birds allow themselves to be 

 approached and seized with facility, and they are 

 without strength. Very soon a slight swelling of 

 the crop is added to these symptoms, which, in ten 

 days, becomes very considerable. I have taken 

 nearly a pint of water from one. By pressing upon 

 the crop of some of them, a certain quantity of mat- 

 ter is discharged by the bill, but never enough to 

 entirely ease the crop. All these symptoms in- 

 crease, and the bird dies at the end of 15 or ^8 

 days' illness. 



I sought after the cause of this disorder, and it 

 was easy to find that it was occasioned by the stag- 

 nant water of which these animals drupk; in the 



16* 



