THE GOOSE. 137 



they are, however, as yet, rather too scarce to permit of ordi- 

 nary persons trying the experiment, a pair of young-, half- 

 grown birds, costing from three to five pounds. As a cross 

 with our common domestic goose, I am certain they will be 

 found most valuable, and we may thus expect eventually to 

 arrive at a degree of perfection not hitherto anticipated " 



THE BREMEN GOOSE. 



This variety of the goose species, now become exceedingly 

 common, was first imported by Mr. James Sisson^ of Warren, 

 R. I., who received a premium for his stock from the Rhode 

 Island Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Industry. 

 Mr. Sisson thus describes them, in the New England Farmer : 



" In the fall of 1826, I imported from Bremen (north of 

 Germany) three full-blooded perfectly white geese. I have 

 sold their progeny for three successive seasons ; the first year 

 at $15 per pair, the two successive years at $12. Their prop- 

 erties are peculiar ; they lay in Feb.; sit and hatch with more 

 certainty than common barn-yard geese ; will weigh nearly, 

 and in some instances quite, twice the weight; have double the 

 quantity of feathers ; never fly, and are all of a beautiful snowy 

 whiteness. I have sold them over the interior of New York, 

 two or three pairs in Virginia, as many in Baltimore, North 

 Carolina and Connecticut, and in several towns in the vicinity 

 of Boston. I have one flock, half-blooded, that weigh, on an 

 average, when fatted, thirteen to fifteen pounds ; the full-blood 

 weigh twenty pounds." 



Col. Jaques, of Ten Hills Farm, has also imported this vari- 

 ety, and bred them with great success. The advantages of 

 this breed consist in their great size and excellent flesh, and 

 12* 



