Dairy Industry in Normandy, 



69 



circular fattening pen of several tiers, on a central pivot, 

 and an automatic crammer, a woman's work in a day at a 

 daily wage of is. 3d. goes a long way. 



The Consul also quotes the opinions of English firms as to 

 the advantages the latter find in placing their orders in 

 Normandy rather than in England or Ireland. A serious in- 

 convenience is said to be the impossibility of securing a large 

 supply of poultry of uniform weight at home. From Nor- 

 mandy a North-of-England poultry-dealer can obtain 5,000 

 head of geese of, say, from 10 to 12 lbs. weight for delivery 

 on a given date, whereas it would tax the efforts of a buyer to 

 obtain 500 such birds from one district in Ireland, and would 

 put up the market price for the particular weight. This ap- 

 plies particularly to the Christmas market. Uniformity of 

 weight is also secured in foreign consignments, while it in- 

 stated that if 200 turkeys were ordered from a single man irri 

 Ireland, the weight would vary from 6 to 16 lbs. The French 

 birds are further slaughtered after twenty-four hours' fasting, 

 packed in clean crates (returnable), made by the packers- 

 themselves at a cost of about lod. a crate, and reach the 

 markets in perfect condition. 



The down and feathers, if properly plucked, fetch a good 

 price, feather beds being in general demand. 



Eggs are packed in long low cases, easy to handle, and' 

 each holding sixty dozen. Large consignments also go from 

 Brittany, in which province, according to the report of 

 Mr. Henniker-Major, Vice-Consul at St. Malo, there is no 

 scientific poultry-farming. The Breton peasant is not a 

 consumer of eggs, and he simply keeps them to await, in 

 remote districts, the passing of the egg-collector, who sells to 

 the local merchant, and they ultimately find their way to 

 St. Malo. 



It is observed that the land-system in France, the 

 small holdings in Normandy, the almost total abandonment 

 of cereals in favour of dairy farming in La Manche, are 

 favourable to the rearing of poultry, which are, moreover, 

 allowed a free run in the cider-apple orchards and pasture- 

 lands, and have no foxes to fear. 



Vegetables and fruit also form an important export from 



