THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 



219 



defend themselves against any hostile attack, to whioh 

 new-comers are usually exposed. To such goslings as 

 are a little strong, bran or Indian-meal dough may be 

 given twice a-day, morning and evening, continuing 

 to give them this food till the wings begin to cross on 

 the back, and after this, green food, which they are 

 particularly fond of, may be mixed with it, such as 

 lettuce, beet leaves, and the like. 



FATTENING. 



Like other fowls, geese may be brought by proper 

 management to a great degree of fatness ; but the 

 period at which they are at the fattest must be chosen 

 to kill them, otherwise they will rapidly become lean 

 again, and many of them would die. 



Creese may be fattened at two different periods of 

 their lives, in the young state, when they are termed 

 "green geese," and after they have attained their full 

 growth. The methods at each period are very nearly 

 the same. 



The writer of the article on poultry, in Baxter's 

 " Library of Agriculture," recommends steamed po- 

 tatoes, with a gallon of buckwheat or ground oats to 

 the bushel, mashed up with the potatoes, and given 

 warm. This, it is said, will render geese, cooped in a 

 dark, quiet, cool place, fat enough in three weeks. 



M. Parmentier gives very copious details of the 

 French methods of fattening. The whole process, he 

 says, consists in plucking the feathers from under the 

 belly ; in giving them abundance of food and drink, 

 and in cooping them up more closely than is practised 

 with common fowls, cleanliness and quiet being, above 

 all, indispensable. The best time is in the month of 

 November, or when the cold weather begins to set in ; 

 if it is longer delayed, the paring season approaches, 

 and prevents them from becoming fat. 



"When there are not many geese to fatten, they are 

 put into a cask with holes bored in it, through which 

 they may thrust their heads to feed ; and being natur- 



