The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1916-12-15

S ~ -''N l"lN CITY D'llg uesiBneu
largely for the Jewish trade.
Geese Easy to Drive.
This trade exists all through the
season, but the dressed Q from
the Bay State Mansfield an .ntend-
ed mostly for the Christmas market
or course the geese cannot be held un-
I'll Christmas time before they are
killed, but those which are dressed
early in the fall go 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 a desper-
ate effort to find n roostlng place.
Wherever they may be, but geese can
De Kept plodding along with much
less trouble. w. Fl. Firke. who owns
the fattening farm in Illinois. has sent
MS son as far away as Tennessee to
buy up geese. One year he bought
2,OOO in that state alone. Another sen
son this son Travelled thousands of
miles in nine weeks picking up geese.
mostly in small lots, for it is seldom
that farmer has more than q score or
two. Buying geese in scattered farm
Ing sections means driving them a long
distance over the road. Sometimes
flock has been compelled to travel 60
miles before Il convenient railroad sta
tion 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
a 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 a
pile of sand. The tar sticks to their
feet and the sand sticks to the tar,
50 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 it. Mr.. Austin gets most of |
his fall geese from Canada. They !
come by train, being three days on the
way, housed in stock cars. They are
driven three miles from the station
to the farm, and then are given a
chance to take cleansing bath, which
they certainly need.
After n day or two the geese are
driven into yards with low wooden
fences, 80 geese to yard. Here they
remain for four weeks while being fed
all the cornmeal mash they will eat
This mash is mixed in a long metal
trough at the feedhOuse and dis
tributed from a wagon, which also car
res a hogshead of water. This plan
is quite different from the one followed
at the Mansfield QlI) plant, for there
the geese are fattened on whole corn,
which is fed from huge hoppers the
birds being allowed to help themselves.
Amazing gains are made at both
farms. and one method seems as good
as another. The geese are always very
thin when they arrive perhaps weigh
ing only five or six pounds, but four
weeks of hard feeding will increase
llllS WEIGHT " hlllN' ten VI perhaps |
twelve pounds. Half a bushel of corn.
Mr.. Firke estimates, is the amount
required to make thin goose fat. 1t
takes an expert to know when a goose
has reached the limit of its capacity,
for if it is not marketed then 1t is like
ly to lose in weight or die.
Purebreds Not Killed.
Market geese are largely mOngrels,
but progressive farmers are now keep
ing good strains of Emden, Toulouse
or other varieties. Some Of the geese