APPENDIX. 305 



the kind will prove profitless in the end. When geese 

 can be kept in situations where they have proper for- 

 age and water accommodation, undoubtedly money could 

 be made on a more extensive scale from the sale of their 

 fe'athers and flesh. An instance is said to have occurred 

 within two or three years past, in the western part ol 

 Pennsylvania or Virginia, in which a farmer raised 

 2,000 geese in a year, from which he obtained a ton of 

 feathers, valued at $1,000. Besides their natural pas- 

 turage and range of water, they were allowed to feed 

 until late in autumn or early winter in a large field of 

 standing corn. When sufficiently matured, they were 

 slaughtered solely for their feathers, their carcasses being 

 burned or thrown away. . 



THE EGG TRADE. 



Under the article " Egg Trade," in the " Supplement " 

 to the English " Penny Cyclopaedia," we have the fol- 

 lowing estimate given, which will, perhaps, excite some 

 little surprise : — "In 1835, the value of eggs exported 

 from Ireland to Great Britain was £68,687, and at the 

 present time may exceed £100,000.* At 4td. per dozen, 

 the number of eggs which this sum would purchase 

 would be 72,000,000. From France and Belgium, we 

 imported 96,000,000 eggs in 1840, on which the duty of 

 . Id. per dozen produced £34,000. Nine tenths of the 

 foreign eggs are fromTrance. , The departments nearest 

 to England, from the Pas de Calais to La Manche, are 

 visited by the dealers, and their purchases often produce 

 a scarcity in the country markets. At most of the ports 

 of these departments, from Calais to Cherbourg, some 

 vessels are employed in the egg trade. The weight of 

 80,000,000 eggs, is not far short of 2,500 tons. In the last 

 three years, the importation of foreign eggs were as 

 follow : — 



In 1842, 89,548,747 



,,1843, . . . .70,415,931 



„ 1844, . . " . . 67,487,920 



• Mr. M'Culloch says, the price paid by England to Ireland for eggs and 

 poultry may lie estimated at from £300,000 to £300,000 a year. 



