FRANCE. 279 



bran $1.60 per 100 pounds. Counting fifteen days from date of ship- 

 ping to that of landing, both inclusive, each animal would eat : 



10 pounds of hay, X 15 = 150 $1 20 



8 pounds of bran X 15 = 120 1 92 



3 12 



This added to .the freight makes a total of $83.12 per head. The 

 prices of frieght of the Bordeaux Steamship Company applies to choice 

 animals carefully attended to, but the freight of animals sent in cargoes 

 by American ships would be much cheaper. 



FRENCH BREEDS SUITABLE FOR EXPORT TO THE UNITED STATES. 



Among the breeds . hereinbefore mentioned only two might perhaps 

 be worth importing into the United States, the Garonnais and Bazadais. 

 The former, on account of its size and powerful frame ; the latter, on ac- 

 count of its energy as a beast of burden, of its yield in good meat, and 

 of its wonderful power of assimilating food. The cost price of a couple 

 of choice' Garonnais would be about $300, that of a couple of choice 

 Bazadais about $260. 



EXPORT OF AMERICAN BEEF CATTLE TO BORDEAUX. 



It would not be advisable to import any breeding animals into this 

 district, because all the crossings hitherto tried with the local breeds 

 have proved complete failures, and consequently the cattle raisers are 

 not inclined to try new experiments ; if they were so inclined, they 

 would choose bulls belonging to breeds known in France, and not pur- 

 chase animals of a breed unknown to them. 



If the importation of breeding animals is not likely to give any good 

 result, the importation of live stock into Bordeaux for the butchery 

 would, on the contrary, meet the requirements of the market, and the 

 probabilities are that the introduction of such animals, if arriving in 

 good condition, would be a profitable speculation. 



In order to elucidate the matter, so as to Dring the question within 

 the comprehension of any person concerned, I shall first explain the 

 manner in which the city of Bordeaux is supplied with meat, the part 

 acted by the commissioners, who are the intermediates between the 

 producers and the butchers, their systematic removal of live stock from 

 the market in order to raise the prices, &c. This will be seen in the 

 following extract of the newspaper La Victoirc of Bordeaux, of Decem- 

 ber 1G, 1880 : 



Generally on arriving at Bordeaux the dealer cannot wait until his stock is sold 

 and paid for ; not being rich he requires ready money for other business. The commis- 

 sioner is there, ready at hand ; he examines the cattle, values it after his own fashion, 

 tries to hint that the butchers are well provided, the market bad and overstocked, 

 &c. ; ho advances to the dealer a certain PUOJ of money, about three-fourths of the 

 value of the cattle ; but often, to end sooner and not to wait ten or fifteen days for 

 the settlement of the sale, the merchant prefers to transact for a trifling profit and 

 gives up the cattle to the commissioner, who then makes the best of it. 



The same article mentions the punishment which the commissioners 

 inflict upon the dealers who do not prove sufficiently accommodating : 



Frequently the commissioners send their employes to the fairs of the region in order 

 to prevent sales from the dealers who were unyielding to them. 



The part of the commissioner is thus defined in La Victoire of De- 

 cember 3, 1880, by a letter of Mr. Olagnier, a municipal councilor, who 

 made a special study of the question: 



The commissioners are at the same time the bankers of the producers, from whom 

 they most often discount the price of the cattle which is sent to them for sale; and of 



