Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1916-12-15

oilFe tUNeW 1Ork city, being designed
largely for the Jewish trade.
Geese Easy to Drive.
This trade exists all through the
season, but the dressed geese from
the Bay State Mansfield are intend
ed mostly for the Christmas market.
or course the geese cannot be held I'M
til Christmas time before they are
killed, but those which are dressed
early In the fall 60 into cold storage,
where they can be kept several months
In perfect condition.
Geese can be driven over the road
even more easily than turkeys. When
nightfall comes turkeys make desper-
ate effort to find a roosting place,
wherever they may be, but geese can
be kept Flooding along with much
less trouble. w. Fl. Firke, who owns
the fattening farm In Illinois, has sent
his son as far away as Tennessee to
buy up geese. One year he bought
1900 In that state alone. Another sea-
son this son Travelled thousands of
miles In nine weeks picking up geese,
mostly in small lots, for 1t Is seldom
that farmer has more than score or
two. Buying geese in scattered farm
Ing sections means driving them long
distance over the road. Sometimes a
flock has been compelled to travel go
miles before convenient railroad sta
ton has been reached.
Wear Tar "Shoes."
AS Is quite natural, geese become
footsore when forced to walk long dis
tances, but Mr.. Firke long ago devised
method of putting shoes on them
which has proved very successful. The
birds are driven over a thin coating
Of soft pine tar and then through q
pile Of sand. The tar sticks to Their
feet and the sand sticks to the tar
so the geese are shod easily and eco
nomically.
The farm at Mansfield, Mass Is op
Grated by Charles Austin, who has
been In the business for half century
and is reported to have made for
tune In 1t. Mr.. Austin gets most o.
his fall geese from Canada. The!
come by train, being three days on thu
way, housed In stock cars. They arr
driven three miles from the station
to the farm, and then are given I
chance to take cleansing bath, whicl
they certainly need.
After a day or two the geese ar
driven into yards with low woodel
fences, 30 geese to yard. Here the,
remain for four weeks while being fe'
all the cornmeal mash they will cal
This mash Is mixed in long meta
trough at the feedhouse and dis
tributed from wagon, which also cal
ries hogshead of water. This pla
Is quite different from the one follOwe
at the Mansfield (Ill.) plant, for ther
the geese are fattened on whole corr
which is fed from huge hoppers, tn
birds being allowed to help themselves
Amazing gains are made at bot
farms, and one method seems as goo
= as another. The geese are always yer
thin when they arrive, perhaps weigl
ing only five or six pounds but fou
weeks of hard feeding will increas
this weight to nine, ten or perhaI
twelve pounds. Half a bushel Of cor
Mr.. Firke estimates, Is the amour
required to make thin goose fat.
takes an expert to know when q goos
has reached the limit of Its capacit
for If 1t is not marketed then 1t Is lik
ly to lose In weight or die.
Purebreds Not Killed.
Market geese are largely mongrel
but progressive farmers are now kee
ing good strains Of Emden, Toulou
or other varieties. Some of the gee
our hearts that we shall not fe
T.