Cottage Economy, to Which is Added The Poor Man's FriendCobbett, William
General
Cottage Economy, to Which is Added The Poor Man's Friend
Cobbett, William
Agriculture; Home economics; Poor laws -- Great Britain
one trough in which I give them dry oats, and they have another trough
where they have constantly plenty of clean water. Besides these, we give
them, two or three times a day, a parcel of lettuces out of the garden. We
give them such as are going to seed generally; but the better the lettuces
are, the better the geese. If we have no lettuces to spare, we give them
cabbages, either loaved or not loaved; though, observe, the white cabbage
as well as the white lettuce, that is to say, the loaved cabbage and
lettuce, are a great deal better than those that are not loaved. This is
the food of my geese. They thrive exceedingly upon this food. After we
have had the flock about ten days, we begin to kill, and we proceed once
or twice a week till about the middle of October, sometimes later. A great
number of persons who have eaten of these geese have all declared that
they did not imagine that a goose could be brought to be so good a bird.
These geese are altogether different from the hard, strong things that
come out of the stubble fields, and equally different from the flabby
things called a green goose. I should think that the cabbages or lettuces
perform half the work of keeping and fatting my geese; and these are
things that really cost nothing. I should think that the geese, upon an
average, do not consume more than a shilling's worth of oats each. So that
we have these beautiful geese for about four shillings each. No money will
buy me such a goose in London; but the thing that I can get nearest to it,
will cost me _seven_ shillings. Every gentleman has a garden. That garden
has, in the month of July, a wagon-load, at least, of lettuces and
cabbages to throw away. Nothing is attended with so little trouble as
these geese. There is hardly any body near London that has not room for
the purposes here mentioned. The reader will be apt to exclaim, as my
friends very often do, "Cobbett's Geese are all _Swans_." Well, better
that way than not to be pleased with what one has. However, let gentlemen
try this method of fatting geese. It saves money, mind, at the same time.
Let them try it; and if any one, who shall try it, shall find the effect
not to be that which I say it is, let him reproach me publicly with being
a deceiver. The thing is no _invention_ of mine. While I could buy a goose
off the common for half-a-crown, I did not like to give seven shillings
for one in London, and yet I wished that geese should not be excluded from
my house. Therefore I bought a flock of geese, and brought them home to
Kensington. They could not be eaten all at once. It was necessary,
therefore, to fix upon a mode of feeding them. The above mode was adopted
by my servant, as far as I know, without any knowledge of mine; but the
very agreeable result made me look into the matter; and my opinion, that
the information will be useful to many persons, at any rate, is sufficient
to induce me to communicate it to my readers.
DUCKS.
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