202  Notes  on  Continental  Poultry-keeping . 
viated  statement  on  account  of  the  lessons  which  it  contains, 
without  in  the  least  concealing  the  differences  in  circumstances 
which  render  their  applicability  to  this  country  a matter  of 
some  difficulty. 
The  account  to  which  I have  just  referred  was  written  by 
Mrs.  Ida  Bergell,  who  gave  the  financial  results  of  her  ex- 
perience of  poultry-keeping  during  five  consecutive  years  in  the 
‘ Landwirthschaftliche  Jahrbiicher’  for  1882.  She  has  no  model 
farm,  and  has  not  kept  fancy-birds,  her  fowls  having  been 
originally  of  the  native  breed,  but  subsequently  crossed  with 
the  Cochin-china. 
Mrs.  Bergell  recognises  the  division  of  poultry  into  three 
classes,  namely,  (1)  laying  fowls,  (2)  rearing  fowls,  and 
(3)  meat-making  fowls.  She  regards  the  ordinary  domestic 
fowl  of  the  country  as  being  surpassed,  in  the  third  category, 
only  by  the  French  breeds  of  Crevecour,  Houdan,  and  La 
Fleche  ; however,  in  her  opinion,  it  stands  in  the  first  rank, 
and  is  followed  by  the  Cochin-china.  This  last-named  breed, 
however,  has  the  reputation  of  being  good  sitters,  and  as  this 
was  the  unique  fault  of  the  country  breed,  she  thought  that  by 
crossing  the  two  she  would  achieve  a decided  success. 
This  experiment  did  not  succeed,  because  the  Cochin-china 
breed  could  not  stand  the  cold  Mecklenburg  climate.  A more 
profitable  attempt  was  made  with  Spanish  and  Italian  fowls, 
the  inconvenience  arising  from  their  disinclination  to  sit  being 
overcome  by  a contract  being  made  with  the  villagers,  whereby 
each  household  must  annually  allow  their  broody  hens  to  sit 
upon  the  eggs  delivered  to  them  for  that  purpose.  Payment 
was  made  for  each  chicken  hatched  at  Id.  per  head,  and  for 
each  duckling  at  the  rate  of  nearly  1 \d.  In  this  way  the  wives 
of  the  labourers  obtained  a small  income,  and  Mrs.  Bergell  a 
considerable  stock  of  young  poultry.  The  only  drawback  was 
that  the  crosses  ultimately  adopted  did  not  weigh  more  than 
from  5 to  6 lbs.  per  bird  when  fattened,  while  the  Cochin-china 
crosses  weighed  generally  from  8 to  10  lbs.  when  ready  for  the 
market.  The  fowls  were  fed  twice  a day  with  a mixture  con- 
sisting of  maize,  and  the  tailings  of  wheat,  oats,  barley,  &c. ; 
while  during  the  day  they  picked  up  their  living  in  the  manner 
to  which  they  seem  born. 
The  details,  as  regards  the  fowls,  are  given  in  the  following 
Tables  (pages  203  to  205). 
From  Table  I.  it  appears  that  the  average  value  of  the  stock 
of  poultry  was  9 1.  12s.  lOffi  per  annum,  and  from  Table  II. 
that  the  average  profit  during  the  five  years  was  51.  14s.  Ad. 
per  annum.  But  then  only  15s.  a-ycar  is  charged  for  a girl’s 
