The morning news., 1897-03-28
A WILD GOOSE STORY.
H"ch Fowl Made to Carry Drink,,~
Water for Its Mnfen

From the Jacksonville Times-rrn,or
An Ingenious and plausible story cor,as
from a Middle Florida planter in the cot
Ton oeit He had lot OF barnyard fowls
among them being a small flock of geese
AS Is well known fact, the goose
though the greediest herbiverous don,es.
tic fowl. will not touch the cotton plant
out Is very fond Of the tender grass. the
bane of the cotton patch.
This planter, as the story is told. made
some notatons of the habits Of the fock
IN ieeding, taking notice of the localities.
ana was much gratihed 70 find that
Where the flock could be induced to feed
the cotton sweep and hoe was a hack
NUMBER, IL the soil was fallow when the
cotton was planted; indeed II would be
as clean as his front yard. The special
feature OF his observations. howevar
were, that the geese could not be induced
20 perform the coveted service with anv
degree OF regularity, preferring to nick
ana repick special localities When this
was fathomed. IL was ascertained that In
and around the barnyard houses was a
taVorite range, while several other spots
IN the field where the geese would take
range similar In extent to that around
the barn houses and yard were well
picked. little closer observation re-
vealed the fact, that in every instance.
the plat In which the geese would wander
was watered range not for swimming
ana pathing purposes. of which the species
is we'll known to be fond. but for drinking
purposes
The planter reasoned that II he could
furnish the desired water, the flock
might be induced to literally clean up the
grass in the entire field TO a blade The
| pith of the story Is the result of his novel
HttGmnf h,
ter boy TO follow them; in fact, the flock
| did not get along well with children any
way so he determined to try the novel
experiment OF making the geese water
carriers for each other. To this end he
procured for each Of the flock a small
gourd, cleaned nicely, with a small hole
cut In 1t sufficiently large to admit drink
Ing FROM as from a trough. These were
| filled with water and each goose had one
tied around its neck
1t was suggested that this would not
work, for the geese could drink from its
own gourd. This, however was not the
ingenious planters idea at all, but the
reverse. Each goose could drink from It's
comrades gourd.
Thus equipped, he turned the flock of
geese into the cotton patch, where the
grass was getting the best OF the cotton
outside Of the former goose range. IL
worked like a charm. They took the
patch by rote, like a gang plow, and
cleaned Il up the first day. apparently
comprehendlng what they had been ex-
pected 10 do.
Now the planter has bought a flock OF
$50 geese, of the most voracious species.
lie intends to equip them in a similar
manner for this years crop Of an in
creased acreage, maintaining stoutly that
he has solved the problem OF dispensing
entirely with the cotton chopper.
Perhaps Il might be well to reserve the
smile until the result Of this years ex-
pertinent becomes known. In the mean
time some progressive South Florida
farmer might serve notice on his little
patch OF nutgrass that he might be induc-
cd TO try the experiment himself