Management of Geese. 149 



A capital description of the method of management ap- 

 peared some years ago in the Farmer, and was deemed worthy 

 of being reprinted in Mr. Tegetmeier's Poultry Book. This 

 we now give for its practical value : — " A good-sized pond, 

 with a plentiful supply of water and good pasturage, are in- 

 dispensable to make goose-keeping a paying business, for 

 they are very large consumers. Let them have an outhouse 

 all to themselves, regularly supplied with clean straw, with 

 which to make nests on the floor as the laying season ap- 

 proaches, and partition the nests off according to the number 

 required. One gander will be sufficient for three or four 

 geese. They generally lay about twelve eggs each, which 

 number they will hatch. The eggs, for safety, should be 

 collected daily and placed in bran, until the geese, by re- 

 maining on their nests, show their desire for sitting. The 

 eggs must then be placed under them, and the house so 

 arranged that they can have free liberty of egress and ingress 

 at all times of the day, as they will require food and water 

 daily, to which they will help themselves, if a pasture-field 

 and pond of water be near, and afterwards return to their 

 nests. Little attention is, therefore, required whilst they are 

 sitting, beyond keeping their nests undisturbed, and protected 

 from vermin. When the time of hatching has arrived, in 

 case any young birds are out, see that all shells are removed, 

 for fear they may cap the other eggs, and thereby prevent 

 their hatching. Allow the goslings to remain in the nest for 

 a night and a day; they will not require feeding during that 

 time, but will gather strength ; and, if the following 

 morning be fine and sunshiny, they can be moved at once 

 upon a grass-plot or other convenient place, where they will 

 be safe, and supplied with an abundance of nice young grass, 

 of which they will soon partake (this, their natural food, suits 

 them better than to be crammed with oatmeal pellets), not 

 forgetting to place them some water in a shallow vessel, with 



