CATTLE. 47 



ducted. Farms where pigs are fattened by hundreds are 

 not rare, and almost everywhere they figure among the 

 principal branches of farm revenue. 



Such, at a rough estimate, are the advantages obtained 

 by British agriculture in the rearing of domestic animals. 

 It is true that France retaliates in another branch of 

 animal products, which is hardly reckoned in England, 

 and is very considerable with us that of the poultry- 

 yard. The English rear few fowls, the dampness of their 

 climate being unsuitable for it ; and notwithstanding the 

 endeavours which wealthy amateurs have been making 

 for some time past, this occupation has hitherto obtained 

 little favour. The most to which statistics bring the 

 annual value is twenty-five millions (one million ster- 

 ling) derived from this source ; whilst in France the 

 annual production of eggs alone is estimated at one 

 hundred millions, and that of all kinds of fowls at an 

 equal sum. A large portion of the population live upon 

 poultry, especially in the south, and this addition partly 

 makes up for what we lack in butcher-meat ; but while 

 rendering every justice to the real importance of this too 

 often neglected resource, we cannot shut our eyes to the 

 fact that it but imperfectly makes up the deficiency. 



We shall see, in treating of the crops, what are at once 

 the causes and consequences of this large animal pro- 

 duction. 



