A COMMERCIAL POINT OF VIEW. 115 



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position of the chicken to take fat ; the selection of the 

 fattening stock requires some judgment, as some chickens 

 are constitutionally too weak, and others have not the 

 frame to receive fat. This system of liquid cramming is 

 principally adopted in the neighborhood of Houdan ; and 

 to give an idea of the importance of this trade, I will now 

 give a short extract from the pamphlet I was kindly pre- 

 sented with from a most intelligent agriculturist, Monsieur 

 De la Fosse, Proprietaire a Orval, Goussainville prds 

 Houdan : 



" It is to. be desired that our excellent and pure breed 

 of Houdan should be propagated in every other country 

 as much as it is in our own, where the poultry trade has 

 taken such a development that it forms one of the princi- 

 pal sources of riches. A few exact statistics of this trade 

 in our immediate neighborhood will give a correct idea 

 of its importance. At the markets of Houdan, Dreux, 

 and Nogent le Roi, there are sold annually upwards of 

 six million heads of FAT poultry, namely : 



Total 6,000,000" 



This does not include the sale of chickens and poultry, 

 which forms a separate trade. 



Monsieur De la Fosse also deprecates the use of fat for 

 fattening purposes, as it deteriorates the fineness and 

 flavor of the flesh. In the districts of Le Mans and Nor- 

 mandy, the fattening is performed by dry cramming, viz. : 



