GEESE.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2518, 4 May 1882, Page 4

GEESE.

(“ Prairie Parmer.”) Wo think more attention should be paid to the rearing of geese than is usual. One may often travel half a day’s journey in the country without seeing a flock of geese. Their flesh is by no means to bo despised ■when the birds are young, and their feathers always command ready sale. It is an erroneous opinion, and one without doubt generally prevalent, that geese cannot bo successfully raised away from ponds and streams of water. Persons may soon disabuse themselves of this idea by visiting the suburbs proper of the city of Chicago, where the green patches about the tenement houses and shanties are converted into geese farms, flocks averaging from the progeny of a single goose to that of half-a-dozen. One of the best flocks we ever know, and which for the years we knew it ran from forty to fifty goslings each year, had for its nearest water a brook three-quarters of a mile away, and which the geese never saw. Our own flock, when we kept geese, had ample water facilities in a river close at hand. Our friend used to beat us and laugh at us, when visiting each other, at my losses. His standing joke was:— “ I only have weasels and skunks to look after, and you, in addition, have cat-fish and snappers (turtles).” We think he was right. If a pool of water is near, it is desirable, and an advantage. If not, a shallow tub in which they can plunge, dabble and drink, will really fill all the absolute necessities of the case.

As to varieties, wo think it lies between the Embden and the Toulouse geese—both of them descended from the gray-legged goose (Anscr ferns) of the north of Europe. Either of the varieties are of |the largest size, growing to the extreme weight of 221 b to 261 b. The true Embden —called, also, the Bremen — goose, should be pure white with brick-red legs, and heavily feathered. The Toulouse goose is gray, but darker and more uniform in color. Both are round-bodied, compact, short-legged, with large abdominal development, are quiet, lay plenty of eggs, fatten readily, and have excellent fleah, A cross of the Embden and Toulouse is said to make better birds than either of the pure breeds. This we cannot vouch for, but wo have found 1 the Toulouse rather better able to take

care of themselves than the Embden. On the other hand, the excellent white feathers of the Embden* are more valuable than those of ther relatives.

Geese are not difficult to manage. They want a dry, warm place to huddle under in winter, and which, in summer, may be given plenty of air. This must be cleansed re; ularly, and often enough to be sweet and wholesome. In the summer they will pretty much supply themselves with food—grass, worms, and various insects —but what grain they will eat shou’d be also sup tie i every night, and it. is always better that this bo supplied to them at the bottom of a vessel filled with water. In winter this food may bo core and the screenings of small grain, in connection with cabbage leaves or other greens, or else chopped roots, daily.

BREVITIES. Improved wire stretchers, for stretching tho wires of wire fences, and which operate without injury to the wire, have been patented by Mr Spencer W. Johnson, of Lathrop, Mo. In this device two plates hiuged together at their one end, and provided with transverse grooves on their faces, in which the wires are placed, are drawn together by a clamping screw to hold the wire firmly between them. These grooves, which are coincident in the faoee of tho plates, are not made in a direct line across the said faces, but are enlarged or rounded near tho edges of the plates to form curved shoulders, over or against which the wire to be stretched is drawn, and whereby the wire will not be out, bent short, or otherwise injured. The device is applicable to stretching either barbed or plain wire, and the cower employed for stretching the wire may be transmitted through a lever passed through a ring, attached to the device, or it may be otherwise applied. An improved tool for drawing taut the wire of wire fences to fasten them to the posts of the fence, and for bringing together the ends of broken wires for the purpose of mending them, has been patented by Mr Andrew Anderson, of Duok Creek, HI. This tool consists in part of a main lever provided with points in tho outer end surface of its operating arms, for the purpose of engaging with the fence j lit when the tool is used to stretch or draw taut a wire, and in part of a lever jaw which is pivoted to the main lever. The outer end of this jaw is made diagonal to close against a diagonal offset of the main lever for grasping and holding tho wire to be drawn taut.bylpressing tho handle ends of the lever and jaw towards each other. Furthermore, said lever and jaw are formed with diagonal cutaway places in their faces, in which clamps are pivoted, for the purpose of securing between them the ends of a broken wire, and so that on bringing the lever and jaw forcibly together the ends of the wire lap sufficiently to form tho twist or tie. Thus the same tool has a double use, which it performs perfeot.lv.

Mr Daniel Dookstader, of Fonda, N.Y., haa patented on improved hay elevator. The oar rier frame of thie elevator is held in position, ready for loading the latter, by a oatoh pivoted to the underside of the truck on which said frame movei, and auoh frame is fitted internally with a vertically sliding block, a oatoh, a notched dog with which the catch engages, and a sheave over which the free portion of the elevator rope or chain that carries the lifting pulley block pastes, the fast end of said chain being attached to the carrier frame. These devices are arranged so that when it is desired to raise and move the loaded hay fork attached to the pulley block, by first pulling on the elevator chain or rope, the pulley block strikes and raises the sliding block, which releaies the catch from the dog in the carrier frame, and also releases the track catch from the latter, and the dog when liberated engages with elevator chain to keep it from running back. The carrier frame with its attached load is then free to be moved as required. After the load is removed the carrier frame is moved buck again for another load, and the sliding block, dog, and catches automatically resume their normal position. The action is a very perfect one. United States papers continue to record tha success of Scotch polled cattle on the ranges. They have been introduced into Texas, and in Southern Kansas they are already acclimatised and doing well. Their hardy constitutions fit them for the extremes of climate with which they have to contend, and no breed of cattle short of the Highlanders oould be more reasonably supposed to stand the “blizzards” of the Territories better than the doddics. The thickness and evenness of their hides is another item in their favor, the evenness being due to their having no horns. Mr A. B. Matthews, writing to the “Kansas City Commercial Indicator,” says that at a recent meeting of hide dealers in Chicago it was resolved that “two horn scratches four inches long, or one horn scratch twelve inches long, be considered to reduce the value of a hide 15 per cent.” Mr Matthews says that blaok cattle have thicker hides than coloured cattle, but this requires proof. The hides of the South American cattle are the thickest we import ; yet these cattle are colored and of Spanish extraction. Scotch hides are rather thick, but not more so than those of the Sussex and Hereford breeds. There is now an unmistakable preference given to hornless cattle in the United States, and the great excellence of the Scotch polls as beef, makers has easily placed them in the front rank. Mr F, MoHardy, in a communication to the “Texas Live Stock Journal,” thinks that in a few years they will have gained the ascendency in the southern and western States, to the exclusion of shorthorns “ raised in the lap of luxury, with high-sounding titles such as Dukes and Duchesses, high-headed, longlegged, and narrow-waisted.”

OA.EE and feed of ducklings. Ducklings are as liable to die of chills and cramps as young turkeys, and for that reason must be kept from exposure to cold rains and heavy dews, and away from the streams and ponds until they are a month or six weeks old. When the eggs are hatched by a duck she will strike a “ bee line” for the water with her web-footed children almost as soon as they are out of the shell, and as young ducks are not overburdened with sense, they are apt to stay in the water until they are wet through; then about one-half of them will “ keel up” and die with chills, and the mother duck will wander among the dewy grass until most of the remaining half die from expcsure. If by chance any survive this course of treatment you will find that constant exposure has stunted their growth, and that they will never make as large birds as they would have been bad they been properly oared for. Hen mothers do not show marked anxiety to get rid of their charges, and for that reason I prefer them. As soon as the ducklings are well out of the shell, whether the mother bo a hen or duck, coop them up in a coop with a pen. The ducklings cannot climb over the sides of this pen, and should be confined to it for about a week. Water that had the chill taken off may be supplied in shallow pans, and the ducklings will dabble around in it and enjoy it. Have your duck coops as far as convenient from the stream or pond, and they must be moved at least three times a week to fresh ground. After the ducklings are a week old, it they had a hen mother, then the pen may be opened on pleasant days after the dew is off the grass, and the mother and her brood allowed liberty to wander around in search of food. By the time they are six weeks old their under feathers will be well out, and they may be allowed unlimited range. Bats, oats, and weasels show a remarkable fondness for duckling's, and you will have to look out for them. You can trap the weasels, circumvent the rats by housing the ducklings at night in rat-proof coops, and when you catch a stray cat making a dinner of young duck, give her a lead pill to help on digestion ; amputation of the tail just back of the ears will also cure pussy ef this bad habit. Ducklings are great eaters, and will eat almost anything in the shape of food. Feed cooked lood, with plenty of green food, until they are old enough to give free range. Almost any kind of food that you would give chicks and young turkeys is good for ducklings. Until they take to the pond or stream, unless insect forage is plenty, feed a little cooked meat. Feed often, but never give all they could possibly swallow ; some ducklings will eat until they kill themselves. After they take to the water the ducklings will pick up a large amount of the food that suits them best, and for this reason ducks are economically raised in the neighborhood of ponds, streams, wet marshes, or near the sea. Ducks can bs successfully and profitably raised with only water for drinking, but when they have plenty of water to swim in after they are old enough, they will be cleaner in plumage, and, no doubt, aside from the food that they pick up in such places, they enjoy sporting in the water. —“ Prairie Farmer.”