FATTENING FOWLS IN FBANCE. 77 



three to five francs, the rate being determined by 

 amount of flesh already carried. Of course these 

 figures would not apply to capons or poulardes, but it 

 is seldom that either one or the other are offered for 

 sale alive, and when that is the case they are generally 

 of a secondary quality. 



Of late there have been doubts thrown upon the 

 statement that caponising is practised to any extent in 

 Franco, and I have made special inquiries as to this 

 point. The result is that whilst it cannot be sa,id that 

 caponising is at all universal, there can be no question 

 that it is widely adopted, and all the best specimens 

 are so treated. During certain periods of the year 

 women travel about the La Bresse district from farm to 

 farm, performing the operation at a given price per bird. 

 An ordinary fowl will sell for six or seven francs (I am 

 now speaking of the poultry districts, such as Louhans, 

 Bourg, &c.), but a capon will realise ten, twelve, and 

 up to twenty francs, according to its size and flesh. 

 Even when a capon is not more than one-fourth greater 

 in weight than a cockerel it will sell for more than 

 twice the amount. A capon which I saw at the Bourg 

 Show a few days before Christmas, 1894, weighed 

 nearly twelve pounds. These birds grow to a larger 

 size than cockerels, but at the same time the flesh is 

 regarded as much finer and more delicate. Poulardes 

 are only so in name, as there has been no operation 

 interfering with the oviary. Care is taken to keep 

 them from laying, and their flesh is the finest of all. 

 A poularde will always command a higher price than 

 a capon, even though the latter be greater in weight. 

 That caponising is essential to produce the finest 



