MARCH 19 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
489 
when nearly every one loves goose. On Thanks¬ 
giving Day the American frequently develops 
a decided liking for this bird. On Easter 
Sunday certain classes of Christians aro 
devoted to the goose, and at the Jewish holi- 
davs in the Fall the Hebrews consider this an 
indispensable dish. 
The goose is more fond of eating than of 
liberty, aud can be easily penned up and fat¬ 
tened. To do this, put six or eight together 
in a dark pen and give them all the food they 
will eat. Corn aud barb y thrown into water 
form an excellent food for fattening them. 
Two weeks should be sufficient time to reuder 
them fat enough, if they are in fair condition 
when put in the pen. A goose well fattened 
should weigh from 15 to 20 pounds and sell for 
from a dollar to a dollar and a half. 
There is some difference in the breeds of 
geese so far as laving qualities are concerned, 
though most of them can be induced to lay 
two clutches of 12 to 15 eggs each, provided 
the eggs are taken away from them as fast as 
laid. Goslings are very hardy, and unless 
caught fy water vermin, are pretty well able 
to take care of themselves. Turtles are veiy 
fond of them, however, and they should there¬ 
fore be kept out of deep water until half- 
grown. They are large enough for the table 
at six or eight months of age. The eggs are 
worth five and six cents each, but there is 
little demand for them in the general market. 
The chief objections to raising geese are, 
first, that they are immoderate foragers and 
respect no man’s property. They are usually 
a source of constant annoyance to neighbors, 
and where truck gardeners live, there is no 
peace with them. With the sides of the bill 
they can cut grass as close as a lawn-mower 
and their droppings are said to be poisonous 
to all vegetation. If allowed to mix with other 
poulti y, they are almost certain to pollute the 
water that the other fowls drink until it is 
death to them. The man who raises geeBe 
should devote himself to this branch of 
industry and have no other feathered animals 
about him. ft is 
said geese can¬ 
not be fattened 
if kept within 
reach of salt wa¬ 
ter though they 
multiply rapidiy 
under such clr- 
cum&tancos. 
Without the aid 
of a large body 
of water or run¬ 
ning stream, it is 
doubtful if geese 
can be raised at 
profit, as they are 
large eaters and, 
not producing 
eggs for market, 
there Is too much 
idle time in their 
lives, l. s. H. 
larly that class who have regarded their fowls 
as among the most troublesome and unprofita¬ 
ble of all their live stock. For five consecu¬ 
tive years these poultry accounts have been 
published in the Rural and very widely copied 
by the press. 
J aK. 1,1880. In Account with 216 Fowls, Dk. 
To 215 fowls, at 60 cents each.$129 00 
82 bushels or corn, at 60 cents. 49 20 
21 on j ot ciacked corn, at $22 . . 44 00 
2i. too* wheat middlings, at $23.50. 52 ss 
220 pounds rough tallow, at 6 cents. ll no 
100 pounds scraps ,, .. 3 60 
12 gallons kerosene oil. at 10 cents. 1 20 
10 pounds sulphur, at T cents. 70 
Red pepper. 2 21 
Total cost...$293 69 
Due. 81,1880 CR. 
By 1,064 10-12 doz. eggs.$ 2 ns 48 
73 fowls sold. 53 20 
317 roosters and culls. 100 2S 
97 Plymouth Rocks (selected). 117 10 
201 stock on hand, at 60 cents. 120 60 
136 bushels roost droppings, at 25 cents. 34 00 
Total proceeds.$033 66 
Deduct cost. 293 69 
Profit.$339 9T 
Orange Co., N. T. W. C. Hart. 
Young Ducks Feeding. 
I am much obliged to Mr. L. S. Hardin for 
his answer to my question about raising ducks. 
The reason I asked the question was that I 
could not see how, with what we Yankees call 
a pot—which means au iron kettle eight to 
twelve inches deep—the young ducks could 
fish out the corn or any other feed in the bot¬ 
tom of it, with a board fitted on the top of the 
water with just room enough for them to put 
their heads into the latter ; but when he says 
in his answer that he takes any old tin or iron 
pau, then, I suppose ho means what we Yan¬ 
kees call a baking tin or a dripping-pan to 
bake meats or bread in, that would be an inch 
or two in depth, instead of the cast-irou pot, 
as mentiontd. The difficulty arose from my not 
understanding the terms used by Mr. Hardin, 
and that is the difficuliy generally. I think; 
writers use terms not well understood by 
Excellent Poul¬ 
try Account. 
Whether up¬ 
on the broad 
acres of the 
farmer, upon the 
lawn of the sub¬ 
urban resident, 
or the restiicted 
limits of the vil¬ 
lage lot, around 
the homes of the 
industrious poor 
or the mansions 
of the iich, there 
is nothing that 
will ufford as 
much real plea¬ 
sure to its owuer 
us u flock of 
pure-bred fowls. 
Their beautilul 
plumage,distinct 
markings, and 
even Bize at once 
win the admira¬ 
tion of the vis¬ 
itor, and to the 
fortunate owner 
they are a source 
of untold delight, and in many cases they will 
amply repay for both the time and money ex¬ 
pended in providing suitable accommodations 
for their comfort aud a proper supply of nu¬ 
tritious food. Yet, comparatively speaking, 
around very few of our rural homes are such 
fowls to been seen. Generally a mixed or mon¬ 
grel race is found, and in most cases very 
little attention is given to this part of domestic 
economy. 
During a series of years great care has been 
taken by me to keep an accurate debit and 
credit account with a given number of fowls, 
the result of which from year to year has been 
given to the Rural readers, solely for the 
practical information contained therein, and 
with the wish to benefit others, and particu- 
up by an assessor and a tax per capita levied 
according to the amount of damage done to 
sheep, hogB or poultry, aud collected like all 
other taxes. So that if the assessor faithfully 
dischaiges his duty, no dogescaoes its propor¬ 
tion of damage tax; and thns each sheep 
raiser is remunerated for actual loss. Of 
course the scare cannot be estimated in monty 
value, although the appraisers usually take in 
all details of damage. 
SPIKELET OF ORCHARD GRASS. 
See page 156. 
The dog tax in Franklin Township, due last 
December, was $3 50 per capita; in Hillsboro 
Township, 80 cents per capita, and the pros¬ 
pect is that in Bridgewater Township this 
year judging from the number of sheep al¬ 
ready killed, the dog tax will be at leaBt $3 
per capita. You will see how this law ouglU 
to work. " Pum.” 
especially to the refuse coal he has been feed¬ 
ing to them at the rate of about five bushels a 
week to twenty hogs, the coal costing only five 
cents a bushel at the pit. 
A Geometrical Garden Scene. 
The scene represented in the acompanying 
engraving, Fig. 157, we give more for its beauty 
than for its utility, either for our farmers or 
suburban residents. Our hot summer suns are 
not favorable to this sort of carpet gardening 
or the evergreeu turf so necessary to set off 
the colors of the masses of flowers and bright 
foliage. Besides Ihe pleasure derivable even 
from pictared beauty, however, many of our 
readers can doubtless get some good sugges¬ 
tions from the view as to the arrangement of 
Polled Cattle. —Men are learning the arts 
of peace—that is, to live without war. The 
logic of the World’s progress must deprive our 
domestic animals of their wai-'ike implements. 
Horns are often ten per cent, of the animal’s 
cost, and no benefit. In the cost of shipping, 
they are twenty per cent. D. 8. m. 
Our Animal Cuts.—C olonel Curtis says: 
“ I like your pictures of animals because they 
are natural whereas almost all others are fixed 
up or made from the trade cuts, which are not 
natural.” 
-♦ ♦ ♦- 
Small Fruits in North Carolina —The 
article under this caption in the Small Fruit 
8pecial Number, was written by Mr. Henry 
Smith of Henderson, Granville Co., N. C., not 
Buncombe Co. 
jpomologiral. 
PECK’S PLEA8ANT APPLE. 
THE GEO METRICAL STYLE OF GARDENING.—RE-ENGRAVED FROM THE LONDON GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. FIG. 157 
readers, causing criticism 
ing thereby. 
or misunderstand- 
J. Talcgtt. 
Various. 
Dogs and toheep. 
In the Rural of January 15, in J. S. Wood¬ 
ward’s article, ‘’Shall we Breed Sheep or 
Dogs?” the following appears: “The dog 
fund is so grossly deficient that there are now 
more claims,” etc. 1 desire to call his atten¬ 
tion to the law as we have it in Somerset 
county, N. J., and I think the same law works 
throughout the State: 
A11 dogs in the several townships are taken 
their flower beds aud the groupings of 
6hrubs and trees around their homesteads. 
the 
A Prolific Cow.—Mr. Frank Shedd, Shedd’s 
Slatiou, Oregon, referring to a cow mentioned 
in the Rural of January 15, that had six 
calves in less than two years, tells ns of an Or¬ 
egon cow that is “ 6ome pumpkins ” in calf 
getting. She lives In the above neighborhood, 
is only five years old and has already had six 
calves, having, on the last occasion, had trip¬ 
lets which are all alive and doing well. 
This is a flrat-cla3s fruit iu all respects. Mr 
Downing thinks it originated in Rhode Island, 
where, and in Northern Connecticut, ithasbeeu 
for a lone time cultivated. It resembles the 
Yellow Newtown Pippin, with more tender 
flesh, while it is hardly inferior in flavor. 
The tree is a moderate, upright, spreading 
grower, bearing regularly and well and the 
fruit commands a high price in the market. 
The apples upon the lower branches of old 
trees are flat, while those on the upper 
branches are nearly conical. The fruit is above 
medium in size, roundish, a little ribbed 
and slightly flattened, with an indistinct 
furrow on one side. The skin is srnootn, 
aid, when first 
gathered, green, 
with some dark 
red, but when 
ripe a beau¬ 
tiful clear yel¬ 
low. with br-glt 
blush on the 
sunny 6ide and 
near the stalk, 
marked with 
scattered gray 
dots. The stalk is 
peculiarly flesly 
aud flattened, 
short and sunk 
in a wide rather 
wavy cavity. Ct- 
lyx woolly, sunk 
in a narrow, aL- 
rupily and pret¬ 
ty deeply sunk 
basin. Flesh 
yellowish, fine¬ 
grained, juicy, 
crisp aud tender, 
with a delicious, 
high aromatic 
sprightly subacid 
flavor. Its seasen 
is from Novem¬ 
ber to March 
and its qttalii y 
* ranks trorn very 
good to best. Mr. 
Downing coi- 
ciudes iu a note 
to us in answer 
to our inquiry : 
‘•Itisaveiygood 
Winter apple 
either for home 
use or inarke', 
aud should have 
a place iu ev¬ 
ery good collec¬ 
tion. Mr. E. W i¬ 
liams says “I 
esteem it as one 
of our very best 
Winter apples, 
occupying the 
position among them that the Fall Pippin does 
among Fall varieties. The more it becomes 
known, the better it will be appreciated." Ac¬ 
cording to our best information, Peck’s Pleas¬ 
ant succeeds best in the following States: Ver¬ 
mont, Rhode Island, New York, Michigan, 
Onio and Indiana. 
Coal fob Hogs. —A correspondent from 
Centralia, Kansas, says that he has never found 
his hogs doing so well as they have during the 
past Winter, and he attributes their thrift 
The Clarke Apfle. —In an article on this 
apple in the Rural of December 11 last, Mr. 
Samuel Stevenson staled that it originated 
about 100 years ago; while Mr. I. F. Tilling- 
hast thought it was not over 25 years old. 
That it originated at Clark's Green is a well 
known fact hereabouts ; but it could not have 
done so ICO years ago inasmuch as the History 
of the Lackawanna Valley shows that the 
