Notes  on  Continental  Poultry -keeping . 
195 
“ The  preceding  view,  which  I have  borrowed  from  M. 
Lemoine’s  little  book,  ‘ Elevage  des  Animaux  de  Basse-cour,’ 
published  by  Masson,  Paris,  gives  a fair  idea  of  the  fowl-houses 
and  their  little  parks  at  Crosne.  It  will  be  noticed  that  the 
O 2 
considering  the  increasing  importance  which  attaches  to  poultry- 
farming in  England.  No  less  than  twenty-six  different  breeds 
of  poultry  are  kept,  quite  distinct,  each  in  a kind  of  paddock  of 
its  own,  surrounded  by  wire  fencing,  and  containing  a square 
grass-plot  with  a gravel  walk  surrounding  it,  and  a border  con- 
taining flowers  on  the  other  side  of  the  gravel  walk,  while  on 
the  grass  plot  there  are  a few  young  trees,  both  conifers  and 
deciduous.  The  young  chicken  also  have  access  to  a large 
lawn  and  to  a wood  which  surrounds  it ; there  are  plenty  of 
shrubs  and  flowers  round  about,  and  M.  Lemoine  thinks  that 
variety  of  circumstances  is  essential  to  the  proper  rearing  of 
chicken,  so  that  they  may  be  able  to  choose  their  own  resorts. 
The  chicken  are  further  allowed  to  eat  as  much  as  they  like 
and  when  they  like,  but  the  hens  are  fed  twice  a day.  Variety 
in  the  composition  of  the  food  is  held  to  be  necessary  to  early 
maturity,  successful  production  of  eggs,  and  easy  fattening. 
The  food  given  consists  of  a mixture  in  equal  parts  of  wheat, 
oats,  barley,  maize,  and  buckwheat  bruised  together.  For  the 
chicken  it  is  given  in  the  form  of  pudding,  but  to  the  breeding 
fowls  it  is  given  as  crushed  grain. 
Fig.  1- 
Yiew  of  Fowl-houses  at  Crosne. 
