Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 259 



Mr. N. C. Meeker. — The person with whom I am in company, 

 wanted to keep geese for several years, but at last, when we set 

 up in Southern Illinois, she got some, notwithstanding constant 

 opposition; and in the course of time she overcame all scruples. 

 The minks and foxes took heavy toll, but she kept up a stock 

 ranging from ten to fifteen, for several years, and obtained a large 

 quantity of feathers, beside down enough for several comforters. 

 If one has an acre or so of wet ground, particularly if a part con- 

 tains water, it can be very profitably devoted to geese. When 

 cue lives on the shores of rivers or lakes, or in remote settlements, 

 where there is range and cattle-run in the road, one can keep geese 

 well. A great many are kept by Germans in the neighborhood of 

 all cities. Sometimes we get very wise. "When we talk against 

 feather beds, we forget that we must have pillows. Why feathers 

 are unhealthy for the body, and yet good for the head, one would 

 like to be informed. Persons in low health, and children, should 

 have feather beds in winter, and in sharp cold nights they will hurt 

 nobody. Every lady, traveling twenty-four hours in the cars, 

 needs a pillow; and a pillow is often in request behind the back in 

 a rocldng-chair. We have seen things carried on a pillow. If we 

 do away with feathers, the sense of that beautiful line, speaking of 

 " downy pillows," will be lost. Of course, I refer to fresh feathers; 

 not to those which have been used by families living through 

 many generations; for nothing is more repulsive. 



Mrs. H. N. Wood, Cayuga county, N. Y. — No animal has been 

 so relentlessly persecuted, oppressed and abused as the poor goose, 

 and all for trying to exercise the right to life, liberty, and the 

 pursuit of happiness. Let the farmer turn out any other animal, 

 unprovided and uncared for, and see if it would do any less damage 

 or be any less troublesome. As yet, no substance has been discov- 

 ered or invented, that is equal to good, ripe live feathers for a bed. 

 They are light and airy, and, when properly cared for, do not retain 

 and emit unpleasant odors, like matresses, while they last longer than 

 anythiog else. No one who has slept in a good feather bed, when the 

 thermometer was below zero, saying nothing of downy pillows, or 

 down comforters, would wish for anything better. I would not have 

 that man for a husband, who would not consent to sleep upon feath- 

 ers in winter. He ought to have a Dutch woman, who would place 

 the feather bed over, instead of under him. Of course, no sensible 

 person would think of sleeping on feathers in summer, any sooner 

 than they would wear thick overcoats and furs during the dog days. 



