THE GOOSE. 



year's growth, and in. tho moulting season they spontaneously 

 fall off, and are supplied by a fresh fleece ; when, therefore, the 

 geese are in full feather, let the plumage ho removed, close to 

 the skin, by sharp scissors. The produce would not be much 

 reduced in quantity, whilst the quality woidd be greatly im- 

 proved, and an indemnification be experienced in the uniojured 

 health of the fowl, and the benefit obtained to the succeeding 

 crop. Labour also would be saved in dressing, since the quUly 

 portion of the feathers, when forcibly detached from the skin, 

 is generally in such a state, as, after all, to require the employ- 

 ment of scissors. After this operation shall have been per- 

 formed, the down from the breast may be removed by the same 

 manner." 



Our neighbours, the French, have little appetite for goose. 

 They say it is coarse and unwholesome, and are as much amazed 

 that apple-sauce should be served with the bird, as some of us are 

 that frogs and dandelions should be found agreeable to French 

 palates. They, however, do not object to a wing or a thigh 

 nicdy baked in a pasty, and are passionately fond of pate de 

 foie gras, or fat liver pie. And how do you think the material 

 for this savory pate is obtained ? " The wretched geese are 

 nailed by the feet to a board, placed before a hot fire, crammed 

 with food and supplied with drink ; and it is ia this dreadful 

 condition, that while fear wastes away their flesh, the liver 

 becomes enormously large ! " Bear this in mind, English 

 visitor to the " most elegant city in the world," and when in 

 a bill of fare your eyes enco'Uiter paie de foie gras, think of 

 the poor brute roasting alive and pass on to the next item. 



My experience in goose-breeding has been but limited, — it 

 has been successful, however. I have a friend whose dealings 

 in goose-flesh have been extensive, and no less successful than 

 mine own The system we pursue is not original ; it is not 

 old — no older indeed, than Bonington Mowbray's " Practical 

 Treatise." To Mr. Mowbray have we stood indebted for many 

 a delicate " green " goose, and many a fine-flavoured full- 

 grown bird ; therefore, in this case, I can do the reader no 

 better service than place before him my own lesson. 



" A gander and five geese comprise a single breeding stock. 

 The goose sits upon her eggs twenty-seven to thirty days, 

 covering from eleven to fifteen eggs. A nest should be pre- 

 pared for her in a secure place, as soon as carrying straw in 

 her biU, and other tokens, declare her readiness to lay. The 

 earUness and warmth of the spring are the general causes of 



