Soptomber 19, 1867. ! 



JOUKNAL Oi? HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



225 



the variations that take place, we give the following figures 

 from our import tables : — 



1864. 

 Number. 



Janunrv 6.999,000 



Februnry 17,S.'il,000 



March 31,849,000 



April 42,060,000 



May 39,930,000 



Juno 33,177,0110 



.luly 3.5,832,000 



AujiUBt .S4,549,0O0 



SipU.nlbur 29,71 1,000 



Octubcr 19,547,000 



November 15,864,000 



December a7,!:3C,U0O 



The increasing demand for eggs, although it has failed to elicit 

 any corresponding or commensurate ciTorta in our own country, 

 has not been lost upon our quick-witted and versatile neighbours 

 across the Channel. The metropolis is almost wholly supplied 

 from foreign sources, and new-laid eggs, as they are called, 

 obtain exorbitant prices, and only reach the tables of the well- 

 to-do classes. Those who have the good fortune to accept the 

 hospitalities of the farmhouse, in addition to the never-failing 

 appetite on such occasions, will discover the superiority of this 

 portion of the fare, and will gladly return with a contribution 

 from the hen-house. The provincial towns, with trifling ex- 

 ceptions, monopolise the eggs from the surrounding neighbour- 

 hoods ; the small farmers who do not sit the market sell their 

 supply to the country shopkeepers, or give them in exchange 

 for other articles. I^Iany cottagers contrive to keep a few fowls, 

 and where there is no pig these act as scavengers, consuming 

 the scraps of the family, the outside cabbage leaves, peelings of 

 boiled potatoes, etc., and if supplied with a little corn, lay a 

 great many eggs. There are no regular agents or dealers en- 

 gaged in the trade ; but the grocer or the butcher of the village 

 takes the surplus at the usual market price, deducting his com- 

 mission. The consumption of an ordinary household iu the 

 conntiy is as much as 2,000 eggs per annum, so that the 

 residue has no great effect upon the metropolis, or the large 

 manufacturing tonus. Indeed, it is but too probable that the 

 care of poultry has retrograded ; for as the small holdings have 

 been absorbed by large farms, many an active, frugal housewife 

 has been withdrawn from rural life who had the will and the 

 means of supplying the market. Neither the cottager with his 

 allotment (instead of his share in the village green or common), 

 nor the artisan has range enough for producing eggs to advantage ; 

 therefore, in catering for the public, the wholesale merchant 

 mnst occasionally pay a personal visit to the markets in Franco, 

 and rely upon the foresight and activity of agents to meet the 

 wants of his trade. 



The egg business in France is almost exclusively conlined to 

 small farmers, by whom it is carried on in a vigorous and com- 

 mercial manner, more especially in the provinces of Burgundy, 

 Normandy, and Picardy. According to the latest agricultural 

 returns furnished by the French Government, for forty- three 

 departments, the value of eggs and feathers produced each year 

 was taken at ;>2,.")00.000 francs. This was considered to be 

 much under the mark, as the consumption of Paris alone is ! 

 equivalent to 12,000,000 francs; and, although, per head, it 

 would be less in the provinces than at Paris, it may be fairly 

 set at rather more than half as great. The eggs, which at Paris 

 are worth (io francs per 1000, average -iO francs per 1000 in the 

 «onntry. We thus obtain a total of 100.000,000 francs, or, with 

 the export, 112,000,000 francs (£5,680,000), as the annual 

 value of French eggs. M this rale the consumption amounts 

 to 2s. per head of the whole population. One of the French 

 writers on this subject gives 7,000,000 eggs as the annual pro- 

 duce ; and if we average sixty eggs as the number that each hen 

 would lay, there would be, at least, 117,000,000 fowls, and 

 these at :i francs a-piece, would give £14,62.5.000 sterling as the 

 value of the poultry stock of France. For the past year, on the 

 same ratio of sixty per head, the eggs imported into this coimtry 

 represent the laying of no less than 7,300,000 hens. 



From a pamphlet published by M. de la Fosse, at Goussain- 

 ville, near Iloudan, we select a few statistics of the trade in 

 that immediate neighbourhood, which will give a correct idea 

 of its importance. At the markets of Houdnn, Dreux, and 

 Kogent Io Koi there are sold annually upwards of 6,000,000 head 

 of fat poultry — viz. : — 



Per Month. Per Tear. 



160.000 1,920,000 



Per Week. 

 Hondan 40,000 



Dreux 



Nogeut le Boi 



,10,000 

 35,000 



200,000 

 140,000 



Total . 



2,400,000 

 1.680,000 



6,000,000 



This does not include the sale of chickens, poultry, and eggs, 

 which forms a separate trade. Every village, says an eye- 

 witness, has its weekly markets, where farmers and their wives 

 bring their produce for sale, in preference to selling at the 

 farmyard. The pohce regulations in the markets are strictly 

 enforced. The various products are classified before the market 

 begins. Each person is bound to keep his assigned place, and 

 not allowed even to uncover his goods, much less to sell, before 

 the bell rings, under the fine of live francs. At the ringing of 

 the bell, the bustle to uncover, the rush of buyers, and the 

 chattering are worth while to witness. The dealers and mer- 

 chants take up their stand outside the market, where they send 

 ail the products they purchase. The seller has a ticket given 

 him, with the purchase price on it, and is paid on delivery of 

 the goods at the dealer's stand. It seems almost incredible 

 that even in some village markets, within two hours, such a 

 vast amount of business can be transacted, with the greatest 

 order and decorum. Some merchants will purchase from 2,000 

 to 3,000 lbs. of butter; others 20,000 to 30,000 eggs, or 1,000 

 I head of poultry, etc., all of which are taken to their warehouse 

 I to be sorted, )iacked, and, perhaps, forwarded the same day to 

 [ London or I'aris. The current price for every commodity is 

 fixed and known immediately after the market opens, and de- 

 ' pends entirely on the demand and supply. At the wholesale 

 I poultry market. La Vallee, in Paris, where the poultry, dead or 

 1 alive, is forwarded from all parts of France, there are a number 

 I of licensed agents, who sell by auction to the highest bidder ; 

 I this market is a curious scene from four till nine iu the mom- 

 1 ing, when thousands of crates of all descriptions of poultry are 

 I cleared out and disposed of. 



j The eggs are sold in the markets of Paris in baskets, which 

 I ought to contain 1,040 good, valuable eggs. These are counted, 

 I at the wish of the buyer, by the official agent, who verifies the 

 tiichel, or loss ; also the size, by passing them through a ring. 

 i For such there are charges from twenty-five cents per mil for 

 counting, sixty cents per mil for examination, and fifteen cents 

 ' for passing the ring ; besides these charges there are the duties 

 I collected by the Municipality of Paris. The production of 

 eggs in France is, to a certain point, unlimited ; and the atten- 

 tion of breeders has been drawn to the improvement of the 

 breed by foreign additions, and modes of preservation also for 

 long voyages. In consequence of the success which had at- 

 tended the exhibition of the poultry of La Bresse (in Burgundj-), 

 I a stir was created, and, on the representations made to him, 

 the Minister of Agriculture instituted a special show tor fat 

 poultry at Paris. The fowls were distributed into five classes 

 — La Bresse, Houdan, La Fk'che, Normandy, and all other 

 breeds. La Bresse kept the lead, gaining, after a struggle with 

 La Fleche, the gold medal for the best fowls of any class. Much 

 of this success was due to the strenuous exertions of the Count 

 Lo Hun, as no region had greater ditliculties to surmount than 

 La Bresse, which constitutes the arrondissement of Bourg, in 

 the department of Ain, and extends from the banks of the Saone 

 eastward to the spurs of the .lura. The fowls have certain 

 features to distinguish them, and the hen begins to lay in 

 February, :md for a month or six weeks lays daily, then three 

 or four times a-week, till she has laid about ICO eggs, besides 

 rearing two or three broods. On every farm poultry is fattened 

 to a certain extent, and until lately was Uttle known or appre- 

 ciated at Paris, though for forty years it has been exported to 

 St. Petersburg. 



The prices of eggs per l.oOOhavo been at different periods as 

 follows in the Paris market :— 



fr. 



1R04 48.00 



1826 64.50 



1845 48.74 



1846 50.27 



18.50 

 ia52 

 185S 

 1,S66 



fr. 

 43.79 

 4S.82 

 50.19 

 60.00 



And the consumption had risen from 74,000,000 in 1807, to 

 174,000.000 in 18.53. These are collected from ten or twelve 

 departments which encircle the city, but more than half is fur- 

 nished by Le Calvados, L'Orne, and the Somme. From the 

 latter and the Pas de Calais are derived the English suppUes. 

 Around Houdan are the villages of Goussainville, of St. Lnbin, 

 and La Have. Near La Flcche an Mans are Villaine and Boce ; 

 also some hamlets near St. Pierre Dive, Lisieux, Calvados, and 

 Eeauvais in the Somme — all localities abounding iu poultry. 

 The ports at which the greatest amount of activity takes place 

 are Calais, Cherbourg, and Honfleur ; at Calais the eggs are 

 packed in cases with straw, eleven hundred to the case ; and 

 at Cherbourg and Honfieur in cases of six hundred and twelve 

 hundred. 



