122 Money in Broilers and Squabs. 



CHAPTER XI. 



General Information About Geese — Breeding Season— Goslings : 

 Care and Feeding — Fattening — Killing and Picking. 



Green goose culture is a profitable industry, but not very ex- 

 tensively carried on compared to that of green ducks. Where suffi- 

 cient space can be provided, it is a valuable adjunct to the poultry 

 business. 



Following are extracts taken from the writings of some of the 

 best authorities, and in this we are under especial obligations to the 

 Rhode Island Experiment Station, which made special trials and 

 tests. 



A goose was exhibited at the New Jersey State fair, 1859, and 

 her history, on a placard posted on the coop, read as follows: 

 "Madam Goose is now owned by Robert Schomp, of Reading, Hun- 

 terdon County, N. J. She has been in his possession 25 years, and 

 was given to him by his grandfather, Major H. G. Schomp. Robert's 

 father is now in his 85th year, and this goose was a gift to his 

 mother as a part of her marriage outfit. The mate of Madam 

 Goose was killed in the Revolutionary War, being rode over by a 

 troop of cavalry. In the spring of 1857 she laid 6 eggs, three of 

 which were hatched and the goslings raised. In 1858 she made 7 

 nests and laid but 2 eggs, evidence perhaps of failing faculties. Her 

 eyes are becoming dim, one having almost entirely failed. The year 

 of her birth cannot be known, but she remains a respresentative of 

 the olden time." 



William Rankin, about 25 years ago, purchased in Rhode Island 

 a wild gander which had been owned by one family some 50 years. 

 A member of the family had wounded the gander by firing into a 

 ' fiock of wild geese, breaking his wing. The gander recovered from 

 his injury and was kept for that number of years, without, however, 

 mating with other geese. He is now kept and used as a decoy bird 

 during the gunning season, and highly valued by his owner, al- 

 though at least 75 years old. 



According to the Greensburg (Pa.) Tribune, at West Brown- 

 ville, Mrs. Kate Krepps owned a goose that recently died at the ad- 

 vanced age of forty-two years. This was the last of a flock of 

 geese which was owned years ago by Aunt Betsy Hopkins, mother 

 01 Mrs. Krepps, and it is said they supplied the feathers for all the 

 beds and pillows in the old Hopkins house. 



An instance is recorded where a Canada gander 45 years old 

 was still serviceable, and in one season his progeny sold for the sum 

 of $75- 



