BRANCHES OF THE POULTRY BUSINESS 39 



.''■ ' ' i ■ GEESE 



require considerable room to be made profitable. 

 They cannot be economically raised in confinement. 

 Where farms have waste, marshy lands or meadows 

 that do not pay taxes, such lands can frequently be 

 made profitable by means of geese. The birds will 

 practically feed themselves most of the year. All 

 the breeding flock needs is a dry place to sleep and 

 moderate feeding in winter. Geese are not raised 

 in America in large flocks. They are pre-eminently 

 farmers' fowls. Many more could be kept profit- 

 ably than are now raised. The supply does not 

 equal the demand. It would not be profitable, 

 however, to attempt goose raising without the ad- 

 junct pasture ; the cost of feeding would be too 

 great. Therefore, unless pasture can be had, geese 

 should be left alone. 



The cost of raising market geese is variously 

 fixed at 7 to lO cents a pound when much feeding 

 is necessary; but on pasture these figures can 

 usually be cut in half. Goslings sell at five to six 

 weeks for fattening in New England for $i to 

 $1.20, but such prices are by no means general 

 throughout the country. 



A special industry has its center in Watertown, 

 Wis., where geese are fed noodles by hand at two- 

 hour intervals. These geese are raised in the usual 

 way until they attain ordinary market weights, 

 when the special feeding begins. They are sold 

 mainly to the Jewish trade at prices in the final 

 market the same as their weights; that is, a 20- 

 pound goose will sell at 20 cents a pound, a 25- 

 pound goose at 25 cents. Often these geese will 

 sell for $5 to $10. This branch of goose growing. 



