Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/116

 108 (iOOSK I.-HS than docks and fowls do from theii nil. I originals; it tends to a general gray color though ilir vt-nt and upper tail coverts are al- ways white; the males are sometimes entirely white, and the females generally cinereous and gray. In England, Lincolnshire is famous for the raising of geese; on the continent, Ilam- ..n, and Emden, and their neighbor- raise the hest breeds. The usual weight of a tin- Arouse is 15 or 16 Ibs., and by cramming with nourishing food this weight may be dou- li.v I-OM lining the bird, to prevent mo- tion, mid employing fattening diet and stupe- fying substances, the body becomes loaded with fat, and the liver becomes enlarged and fatty with disease, forming the principal ingre- dient in thepdtes defoie gras so much esteemed by epicures. Geese are in the best condition for the table about Christmas time ; in England the feast of St. Michael, and on the continent that of St. Martin, are almost universally cele- brated by roast goose. Before the days of me- tallic pens, goose quills formed a considerable arficlo of trade, the living bird being stripped once and sometimes twice a year for this pur- pose; the value of the feathers for beds and pillows is well known, the living birds being plucked from three to five times in a year, at which periods, if cold weather come on, many die ; if well fed and cared for, a goose will yield about a pound of feathers in a season. They i." IM rally breed only once a year, laying every other day, and depositing 7 or 8 eggs; incuba- tion is about 80 days, and the female will some- times produce enough for three broods, if the eggs are taken away in succession ; they begin to lay early, are close sitters, and careful of th.-ir young; they grow fast, are little liable to disease, and are fattened by grain in a short time ; when in a locality where they can pick Bremen UOOM. "P. ""'.' ' " tl...jr food, they are profitable to raise for th,,r h* and that of the goslings ..r tlu-ir ,|u,:U, .Mud r,|, ( - ( .ially for their feathers' 1 ""<"1 Mat,., the common tame goose "' ferope,in whirl, the pmders are white and females gray, is the most numerous, and GOOSEBERRY perhaps as profitable as any. The white Bre- men goose is of larger size, handsome, and easily raised, but less prolific and hardy. The China or tchin-tchu goose, with its variety the Guinea or African goose, is very large and swan-like, at maturity weighing 50 Ibs. per pair. A cross between the last and the Bremen bird, called sometimes the mountain goose, is highly prized for the table, and attains a weight of 35 or 40 Ibs. per pair ; it comes to maturity early, and can be reared in 16 weeks to a weight of 14 Ibs., dressed. The Canada goose is some- times tamed, especially in northern and thinly settled localities; it mixes with the common goose, though of a different genus, and the mongrels, which are not prolific, are considered a great delicacy. The goose is a very long- lived bird, its age having been known to equal 100 years. It is probable that many wild species, in different parts of the world, might by a little care be brought into a state of do- mestication, and thus increase the number of these useful birds. GOOSEBERRY (ribes grossularia, Linn.), the name of a familiar garden fruit of small size. The original species is indigenous to England, France, Germany, and Switzerland, and has been found in the Himalayas, and on the banks of the Ganges (Royle). The cultivation of the gooseberry in gardens was first successfully un- dertaken by the Dutch ; but up to the time of Miller it had gained but little reputation as a table fruit in England. Some suppose that the name originated from the use of the berry as a sauce for the goose ; but Pryor states that it comes through the German Kreuzbeere from the Swedish Krusbar, meaning " frizzle berry " and " cross berry," the last having allusion to the triple spine, which is sometimes in the form of a cross. The gooseberry is represented in the United States by several species, of which the most common is the wild gooseberry (R. cynos- 'xiti, Linn.), with large berries armed with long trickles like a bur, or rarely smooth-skinned ; t is found from Canada to the Rocky moun- tains near the sources of the Platte river; its ruit is pleasant to the taste. The commonest smooth gooseberry of New England is the R. hirtellum (Mx.), with small, smooth, purple, sweet fruit. Another species, R. rotundifolium MX.), grows upon rocky places in western Massachusetts, and extends to Wisconsin, and southward along the mountains to Virginia; this bears a smooth-skinned, pleasant fruit. The swamp gooseberry (R. laemtr,; Poire!) is found in mountain swamps from Massachusetts and New York to the arctic circle, and, ac- cording to Douglas, in the mountains of Oregon and northern California; this species differs rom others in its many-flowered racemes; its ruit is dark purple, and is unpleasant to the taste. The cultivation of the foreign varie .ies of the gooseberry is somewhat ditlieult in >his country, in consequence ofdrv weather in he early summer succeeding the rains of the prmg; and when the atmosphere is moist,