268 



CATTLE AND DAIRY FARMING. 



DIVISION OF CATTLE IN FRANCE. 



This peculiar division of laud aird culture in France has led to a simi- 

 lar division of the cattle-raising industry. 



Nowhere in this country is it made a special pursuit, and the stock 

 passes through, many hands before it is finally turned over to the butcher. 

 As a rule it is raised in those parts of the country where pasture land 

 is abundant and the soil unfit for other culture. As soon as the young 

 animal is strong enough it is taken to one of the numerous fairs that 

 are held in all parts of the country; a farmer, whose ground is not ex- 

 tensive, will buy the calf and submit it for n short time to the li^ht 

 work which he requires, and after a few months, when the yearling has 

 grown in his hands, he will take it again to the fair, sell it at a small 

 profit, and buy another younger animal with the same prospect of profit 

 for the future. 



In this wise, the stock is bought and sold several times before it passes 

 into the hands of an "engraisseur," who makes it a special business to 

 buy from farmers cattle which he brings to a satisfactory condition of 

 "fat," and finally sells to the butcher. 



Under this system the different original French breeds have neces- 

 sarily become mixed to a large extent, and it is difficult to determine 

 exactly the number and importance of each. In a general way, cattle 

 are most numerous in the northern and eastern parts of France where 

 milk is a common diet ; in the south, where oil supersedes butter very 

 largely, the breeds show a greater aptitude for labor; and in the south- 

 eastern region, where neither milk nor labor is in great demand, there 

 is no special breed, and the number of cattle is extremely limited. 



In the seven departments forming this consular district meat cattle 

 only number 110,018 head, or less than 1 per cent, of the total of France, 

 and it is, so to speak, all imported either from the cattle-raising parts 

 of France, or from Italy, Sardinia, and Algeria. 



This made it impossible to collect any information directly from tho 

 breeder, which would have been of far greater value and interest ; and 

 in the following description of the most important French breeds I had 

 recourse to official statistics as to numbers and to the works of the 

 Marquis de Dampierre and M. J. Magne as to the several breeds.* < 



CATTLE CENSUS OF FRANCE. 



As no census of the stock of this country was ever made with special 

 regard to the several breeds, I have adopted the plan in the following 1 

 statement to give the number of cattle belonging to each agricultural 

 region of France which will permit a comparison of their relative im- 

 portance : 



* These interesting descriptions of French cattle are omitted, being fully covered liy 

 some of tho other reports from France. 



