’ 4 
832 
Duck’s-feathers are fufficiently elaftic, 
and foldat a certain price in the ci-devant 
Normandy, where great numbers of thefe 
birds are reared. They are ufed for pil- 
lows and matireffes. 
Goofe-Dorcn or Feathers. 
‘The common goofe, and particularly 
the Jarge fpecivs which, fince time imme- 
morial, 
domefticity, fupplies the greater part of 
the feathers and down employed in Eu- 
rope. It was long believed that the health 
of thefe birds was injured by depriving 
them of their feathers ; but if the opera- 
tion takes place be fore moulting, it is not 
followed by any inconvenience when pro- 
perly | performed, and in fuch a manner as 
to take from each wing only the down and 
four or five feathers. 
When the young birds have attained 
the age of two months, they are conduct- 
ed di ferent times toa piece of clearw ater 5 
they are then placed on clean raw, tn 
order that they may become dry ; they 
are then {peedily tripped of their feathers 
for the fir time, and a fecond.time at 
the commencement of autumn; but with 
moderation, on account of the approach- 
“ing cold, by which they might be in- 
jored. 
Another precaution, which ought al. 
ways to be known, 1s, that when geefe 
are ftripped of their feathers they mutt be 
preventdd from going,to. the water, and 
made only to drink, curing two days, till 
their. {kin becomes firm. ‘They are 
plucked a third time, when they are killed, 
- after they have been fed. . "This bird, 
therefore, which has lived about nine 
months, can furnifh, in the courfe of its 
life, three crops of feathers. 
The advantage to be derived from goofe- 
feathers is no where to be neglected.— 
‘They form an important article of com- 
merce in Lincolnfhire, where they are fold, 
to a confiderable amount every year. 
To neglect the ‘advantage of obtaining 
once, twice, or thrice, in the courfe of a 
year, .a crop of writing-quills, and of 
doans for filling beds and pillows, would 
e to rencunce voluntarily a coniiderable 
and certain prefit which might be derived 
from a numerous breed oF geefe. It is 
efiimated that this preduct “varies with 
age, and that a mother-goofe gives in ge- 
neral a pound of feathers, but a young ong 
furnifhes only halfa pound. 
Geefe deftined for peopling farm- yards, 
and which are what is called old gecfe, 
\ 
On the Feathers and Wessn of Damefiic Fowl . 
have heen fubjected toa ftate of 
[May 1, 
may, indeed, be plucked thrice a-years | 
without inconvenience, at an interval of 
feven weeks; but young ones, before 
they-are fubjected to this operation, muft 
have attained, to the age of thirteen or 
fourteen weeks, and efpecially thofe foon 
deftined for the table, becaufe they would 
become meagre, and -Jofe their Hpaaty, 
The nature of the food contributes very 
much to the value of down, and to the 
ftrength of feathers. The particular care 
taken of geefe has no lefs irfluence. It 
has been remarked, that im places where 
thefe birds find a great deal of water, 
they are nct fo much fubject to vermin, 
and furnifh feathers of a better quality. 
There is a fort of maturity in regard to 
down, which may be eafily difcovered, as 
it then falls of itfelf.. If removed too 
foon, it will not keep, and is liable to be 
attacked by worms. Lean geefe furnith 
more than thofe which are fat; itis alfo 
more efteemed. Farmers ought never to 
foffer feathers to be pulled from geefe 
fome time after they are dead, fer the 
purpofe of being fold;, they sedcerally 
finell badly, and Puna matted : none 
but thofe plucked from living geefe, or 
geefe which have been juft killed, ought 
to be introduced into commerce. 
latter cafe, the geefe mult he plucked 
foop, and in fuch a manner that the ope~ 
ration may be terminated before they are 
entirely cold: 
betteér.- 
Deficcation of Feathers. 
eres be the kind of birds from 
which feathers are obtained in the greateft 
BI thofe principally ufed ought 
to be plucked from a living animal; and 
they may be eafily known, as the barrels, 
when prefled between the fingers, emit a 
bloody liquid. Thole 
death are dry, light, and liable to be ar- 
tacked by infects ; but feathers and down 
of the beft quality, colleéted before 
moulting, and in the proper feafon, re- 
quire, as already oblerved, precautions, 
In the 
the feathers are then much 
plucked after 
4 
in order that they may be preferved ima, 
good ftate. They are always accompa. 
nied by a fat lymphatic matter, which, 
becoming altered, would communicate 
to them an odour exceedingly difagreeable. 
They muft, therefore, be fubjeéted to 
previous fcheusten, and expofed in an 
oven after the bread has been taken from 
it. This deficcation ought even to be 
carried further when the feathers are thofe 
of aquatic birds, in confequence of their 
oily nature, 4 tage zit ' 
When 
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