FATTENING AND MARKETING GEESE 



between his knee and the outside of the box. He 

 proceeds to pluck the feathers as rapidly as possible, 

 removing all the feathers except the main wing 

 feathers or those of the first joint of the wing and 

 the feathers of the neck half way from the head to 

 the body. All the soft body feathers are thrown in 

 the box and saved. The coarser feathers are thrown 

 on the floor. The down is removed by rubbing the 

 moistened hand over the skin. To save the hands, 

 ordinary rubber heels dipped in water are often 

 used. Sharp knives are also used to shave off the 

 pin feathers which cannot be plucked and any down 

 not removed by rubbing. 



The dry picked goose presents a much better ap- 

 pearance than a scalded goose and the feathers are 

 more valuable. The skin of a dry picked bird is 

 not so likely to be rubbed off in removing the down. 



The Value of the Feathers is sufficient to pay for 

 the cost of the picking or perhaps a little more. The 

 cost of picking in the fall of 1920 ranged from 15 to 

 20 cents per goose where the picker was boarded 

 and 24 cents without board. A good man can pick 

 about 40 geese in a day. Women are not employed 

 for this work as the geese are too big and too strong 

 for them to handle. 



After the geese are picked, the blood is washed 

 from the head and the feet washed if that is neces- 

 sary. They are then thrown into barrels of cold 

 water to cool and must be left there until the body 

 heat is entirely removed. The wings are tied in 



207 



