290 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. Frbboaot 5. 
be let out in no very pleasant language to the sluggard who 
delights in a late morning’s nap. Nearly every school¬ 
boy knows that it was their gabbling which gave the 
alarm to the Romans, and thereby saved Rome from being 
captured by the Gauls; and geese were long after that 
venerated by that superstitious people. Still, care should 
be taken not to expose them, even at a week old, to too 
much rain, though a brisk shower would not injure them, 
as, in such, they will creep under their mothers ; but if a 
continuous rain, the mothers will not settle long in a place, 
consequently the young ones are then liable to get soaked 
with the wet, and, as I said before, this has a dangerous 
effect on them; therefore, when such is the case, which 
often happens at this unsettled season of the year (the be¬ 
ginning of April), I would advise to keep them under cover 
in an empty out-house during a heavy rain, and feed them 
with thick oatmeal mashes, mixed with small-chopped, 
curled greens, or any of the sorts of kale which every cot¬ 
tager ought to have in his garden at that time; this they 
relish much, and will thrive well on, and even if the weather 
be propitious they ought to have a meal of this every morn¬ 
ing and evening, and at three weeks old a few dry oats may 
be thrown among them, which they will soon learn to eat, 
and thrive on amazingly. 
After learning to eat oats, the mashes may he discontinued, j 
There is another sort of grain which was a few years ago j 
much used by the cottagers in this vicinity in feeding their 
geese and goslings at this stage, called “ Swimmings;” that 
is, the light refuse barley which swims at the top on being 
steeped by the maltsters. These were used when oats were 
so high in price that the cottagers could not afford to pur¬ 
chase them, and the swimmings were then considered as a 
good substitute for oats, though, of course, they had not the 
feeding qualities in them which oats had ; but now the latter 
are as cheap as swimmings, and are generally preferred for 
that purpose in this neighbourhood. 
By the way, when great numbers of geese are kept on a 
common, there must be different marks put on them, to 
distinguish the respective flocks from one another, as 
they are very apt to get mixed when young. Each cot¬ 
tager, therefore, ought, and is obliged, to have different 
marks, which is usually made on the feet—such as “ heel¬ 
ing,” “ toeing,” “ holeing,” “ tongueing,” and “ slitting,” the 
webs or the feet. As all these processes cannot be done 
without some pain, and also cannot be dispensed with where 
many are kept, and liable to get intermixed when young, 
therefore the sooner this is done the better, as the younger 
the goslings are, the less they will feel the pain. Care must 
be taken that the marking is done in the evening, when 
they can be put under their mothers after the operation is 
performed, and the bleeding, if any, will soon cease, by 
their being kept from moving. The marking ought not to 
be delayed later than the second day after they leave the 
shell, for the reason mentioned above. The heeling and 
toeing is done by cutting, with a sharp pair of scissors, one 
or more of these members off close by the nail, according 
to the fancy or different mark of the owners; and every 
owner ought to retain his own mark from year to year, 
which practice is strictly adhered to here, where there are, I 
should think, not less than two hundred different flocks of 
geese kept on the common, and I dare say not two flocks 
marked alike. Even in the highlands and islands of Scot¬ 
land this practice is earned on to the present day with the 
sheep and black cattle, the only difference being that they 
are marked in the ear instead of the feet. The dissimilarity 
of marks required for such a number of flocks of geese re¬ 
quire that holeing, slitting, and tongueing, must also be re¬ 
sorted to; the former is done by running a round piece of red- 
hot iron, about a quarter-of-an-inch in diameter, through 
one or more of the webs of either or both feet; the slitting 
is done by cutting right up the middle of the web, or webs ; 
and the tongueing, by cutting the outside of the web, and 
making it appear something similar to the teeth of a large 
saw. Besides being thus marked on the feet, they are 
usually, when first put on a common, marked with varied 
and mixed coloured worsted, run through the skin of the 
neck with a needle, and knotted, leaving about an inch of 
the worsted to hang down. This is called “ cockading ” 
them, and is indispensable when put first on a common, as 
they are not only easily distinguished by their owners at a 
distance—for the marks in the feet when young are difficult 
to discern when they get intermixed together—but even the 
old ones are endowed with that powerful instinct to pick out 
one who has intruded himself upon them, and will instantly 
peck and ill-use him if lie has a strange-coloured cockade 
hanging on him.—L lebig. 
(To be continued .) 
ANOMALIES OF POTATO-GROWING. 
I now write to say what it was that puzzled me so much 
in 184.'). Having something like two acres of potatoes 
planted in a ten-acre field, and having five sorts, I planted 
six rows of each sort, two feet apart from row to row. 
No. 1, Ash-leaved. No. 2, Early Shaws, which, being early, 
were a very good crop and sound. No. 3, Jersey Blues ; not 
one bushel of sound ones, but a very heavy crop. No. 4, 
what we call here Stone Kidneys, were all sound, and sold 
to a neighbour for £7 Is. No. 5, York Pink Eyes; not one 
bushel of sound ones, but a very heavy crop. Now, I ask, 
how comes it to pass that the Stone Kidneys, though be¬ 
tween the others that were all diseased, should be all sound? 
I have read much concerning the potato disease, and not 
any two writers fully agree as to where the disease first 
makes its attack. It may be said by some, on the bine most 
certainly, and I know that there it first makes its appear¬ 
ance ; but is not that the effect of a cause ? I am inclined 
to believe it is, and that the disease comes first in the 
tubers. The question still remains—What is the best pre 
ventive ? Early planting is one, and by no means the 
least, seeing the disease does not ordinarily make its appear¬ 
ance until somewhere towards the middle of July, and by 
that time early planted potatoes have done growing. I wish 
I could prevail on one of my cottage-garden neighbours to 
plant early, or under ashes,—but that deep-rooted thing, 
Custom, seems insurmountable. I was speaking to one the 
other day on early planting, and the answer was—“ Bless 
you, I know it will not do.” 
There is a Variegated Senecio, with light pimple flowers, 
and double. I have not seen it for some years. 1 cannot 
think how it escaped Mr. Beaton, as most assuredly it 
would make a very pretty edging or small bed, not being a 
very rampant grower. If any one knows anything about it, 
I should like to know where it is to be got. It strikes as 
freely as any, but is bad to keep through the winter, parti¬ 
cularly the young plants. A Thinking Gakdeneb. 
EGGS LAID AT POULTRY SHOWS. 
People would be astonished at the number of these, 
especially when the Exhibition is one that happens to be 
open for several days, and the fowls, therefore, have to he 
on the spot some time before and after. It is not to be 
wondered at, when we remember that most of the birds are 
in the best possible health and condition. The poor things 
are sadly puzzled what to do with their inconveniently-timed 
produce. It is amusing to see a Bantam hen, after a few 
moments of deep thought, carefully roll her possible chicken 
up one corner of her pen. But Committees will soon have to 
relieve the perplexity of the exhibited, by coming to some 
decision on the matter. A correspondent writes, “ If birds 
are sold at from £b to £10 each, do not you think that 
attention will have to be paid to the eggs they lay on their 
visits to these shows, and that exhibitors of the really good 
varieties will be found insisting on the admission of their 
servants, or that some other means be adopted to secure 
them ? I mooted this point to the authorities at Halifax, 
and they promised to attend to it." D. 
PROTECTION OF GOOSEBERRY AND 
CURRANT-TREE BUDS. 
On visiting Mr. Rivers' nursery-grounds early this year, 
he called my attention to the mode he pursued for protecting 
his gooseberry and currant-tree buds from injury by small 
birds in spring. It is, in my humble opinion, worthy of 
