262 PROFITABLE POULTRY PRODUCTION 



the same kind of black knob characteristic of iHg 

 Brown Chinese variety. The legs are orange 

 colored. As a rule, the geese lay better than the 

 Embden, but not as well as the Toulouse, and the 

 carcasses, especially of old birds, are hard to make 

 look well for the market. The skin is dark, and 

 this unfavorable color is not improved by the 

 presence of down and pin feathers which are usually 

 very hard to remove. 



Besides the market varieties of geese described, 

 there are several used for ornament, among them 

 are the Egyptian. One of these varieties, the Wild 

 or Canadian geese, however, is used for breeding 

 mongrels, as already noticed. The Egyptian is 

 purely ornamental. 



GOOSE AND DUCK FEATHERS 



Generally speaking there is probably less waste 

 of geese and duck feathers than of chicken and 

 turkey, because the prices are considerably higher 

 and the uses more numerous, and yet it is prob- 

 able that many bring a lower price than they should 

 because of the imperfect methods of sorting and 

 curing. In the first place, the birds should be dry 

 picked, so as to save the animal oils which give the 

 feathers their " life." The reduction in grade be- 

 cause of scalding is not so great with geese and 

 duck feathers as with turkey and chicken, pro- 

 vided proper care has been exercised and the birds 

 immersed for only a very short time and the drying 

 properly attended to. The feathers from the two 

 kinds of birds should be kept separate, but other- 

 wise the method of handling is simple. 



A leading dealer writes as follows concerning the 



