268 



Chicory Industry in Great Britain, [aug., 



Hampers are lent on hire by some of the English railway 

 companies for the conveyance of the dead fowls from the 

 society's stores to the markets in London and elsewhere, and 

 these are the cheapest and most convenient form of package. 

 The packing material used is dry, sweet-smelling oaten straw, 

 and it is placed in layers between the birds, but sometimes the 

 latter are wrapped in " butter paper " before they are laid on 

 the straw. 



The sale of the poultry is left entirely in the hands of the 

 manager of the society, and he can sell all the chickens fattened 

 at the stores, numbering nearly 50,cco per annum, at fixed net 

 prices f.o.r. at his nearest railway station. This is the only 

 satisfactory way of doing business, as many of our societies 

 have had considerable losses through consigning poultry to 

 commission agents in England, but a good salesman can always 

 sell his fowls at fixed prices, provided they are of the right age 

 and size, of good quality, well fattened, and neatly turned out. 

 The secret of success in the table poultry business is strict 

 attention to these details, and unless this fact is kept in view the 

 result will be failure. 



H. DE COURCY. 



THE. CHICORY INDUSTRY IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



The production of chicory for mixing with coffee was formerly 

 a rural industry of some importance in certain districts of York- 

 shire and other counties of England ; but during the past thirty 

 years the home grown supply of this article has, with occa- 

 sional fluctuations, gradually diminished until it has become 

 a negligible quantity in the produce markets of this country, 

 the requirements of which are now met almost entirely by the 

 imports of chicory from Belgium. 



Relatively to the total supply the proportion furnished by 

 British agriculture does not now represent more than 2 per cent, 

 of the whole, though prior to 1870 it was more than 20 per cent, 



