Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-02-15

eat and drink, and grow fat In 20 pens
were groups OF geese undergoing the nm
al process the process of adding the
triple or quadruple plate of fat. From
these pens they go to the coops. where
thew remain until empty" (they are not
drawn, } and then are delivered in turn to
the exscutioner, the picker, the washer
and dresser, and to the packer.
What do they eat? Scalded meal IS the
steady diet, fed twice day, and whole
corn once day, three meals regular ana
green stuff, in its season, between: Inc
average amount of grain per day FED our
ing the nine months, is Sc bushels. Inc
cook and waiter has been in service SIX
years. A kettle holding 80 gallons is filled
with water, and the water brought to the
boiling point. In large trough near are
seven bushels of meal. and to this IS add
ed the 80 gallons of water. he mixes
with q shovel, and when cooled transfers
to trays on a wheelbarrow. In summer
the food is given cold in winter warm
but not hot. As soon as one ''batch" IS
ready, another is prepared. When the
eaters are more numerous. the COOK can
be cook only, and another man waits on
the goose tables When corn is ted to the
big flock. man takes bag on his shou|-
der, and holding the mouth of the bag,
lets the corn run as he walks. Then may
be heard the rustic of corn down 1000
goose necks. The scalded meal Is placed
in troughs or shallow boxes, and sup
ply is at hand all the time. At the hrst
meal in the morning there is general clam
or and every one of the 2O0O demands IN
slant relief from the pangs of hunger.
If food be present the goose appears to
be hungry every ten minutes, and helps
himself.
In the goose pens and pastures there is
nothing grown except the geese, they have
eaten, root and branch, everything that
dared to grow, whether mullen, thistle
or grass. About 80 acres of green stuff
was raised for the geese. The oats were
cut green, and without any further cut
ting were dealt out as to cattle. Corn was
raised for the same purpose and fed stand
ing. When the corn was in the milk the
geese were turned in. They ate the corn,
the cobb, the stalk, leaves, everything
above ground, and then pulled up the
roots Nothing was left to indicate that
corn field had been there.
The farm plant consists of about dozen
different buildings with windmill in
the centre for pumping water. AS the
geese and ducks do not have access to
natural water sources, water must be sup
piled, and this is a work of some magnitude
for no animal is so continually thirsty as a
goose or duck. There must be abundance
of drinking water. and tor ducks at least,
enoguh for bathing. The ducks must
have also mud, simply mud, place where
the water stands and softens the earth. A
duck on sandy SOIL where the rain disap-
pears as fast as it falls, will not thrive, al
though sufficient water may be supplied
for drinking purposes
| About thirty men are employed through
out the nine months. In the busy season
seventeen pickers or FUCKERS find enough
to do. Each picker can strip forty
geese in day. but he must hurry and has
no time to spin yarns or to exchange Cos
sip with his fellow pickers. At the pres
ent time, early part of December, two
hundred and fifty geese day are pre-
pared for market, and about eight chick
ems, not raised on the place, are dressed
every week. These are drawn, but all
the geese are sent to market undrawn.
The raising of geese, or any kind of
poultry. is not difficult; they raise them
selves if food and proper care be present,
but it is not always easy to find a market
at good prices for large quantities. The
proprietors of this goose farm have a
store in Boston near Quincy market as a
distributing depot for Boston and the East,
but for the West and South shipments are
made from the farm to three great mar
kets, New York, Brooklyn, and Philadel-
phia. A dealer in Fulton market, New
York have just ordered two thousand
geese Tor the holiday trade. The demand
exceeds the supply.
1t is believed, or it has been said by
some agriculturists, that the excreta of
geese was useless as fertilizer. Let
this fact stand against the statement. The
goose farm has become so enriched by
the presence OF geese, that the proprie-
tors do not dare to use it longer. fearing it
may be unhealthful. Therefore, next
spring, a farm of sixty acres, new land,
near the present farm, will be used for
pasture, while the old farm will be devot-
ed to crops of forage, which grow upon it
luxuriantly. In few years the geese
will come back and the other farm will
be cultivated A StockweU in New
England Farmer.