66 



Dairy Industry in Normandy. 



Export of Osiers from Madeira. 



In the Report on the trade of Madeira for 1896, Mr. II. 

 Mercer Bell refers to the export of osiers from that island. 



The basket-making, which has lately been started in the 

 east end of London, and the considerable quantity of wicker- 

 work which is made in the blind and deaf and dumb institu- 

 tions throughout the United Kingdom, have caused a fairly 

 large and increasing export trade from Madeira to be done 

 in the "osiers" of which the wickerwork is made. 



The osiers grown in Madeira are closely allied to the willow, 

 being botanically classified as " Salix viminalis." They are 

 chiefly grown at the north side of the island, as they thrive 

 to perfection on the wet portions of the land in proximity to 

 the " Ribeiros," or mountain streams, which overflow their 

 banks during the late autumn and winter months. 



Owing to the deficient water supply for agricultural pur- 

 poses, on the south side of the island, the wickerwork industry 

 is entirely confined to the peasant class who live on the 

 slopes of the mountains, where a plentiful supply of water 

 is obtainable — this being a sine qua non to enable the worker 

 to bend the osiers to the required shapes of the many articles 

 which are made in wickerwork. 



[Foreign Office Report, Annual Series, No. 1871, Price id.] 



The Dairy and Poultry Industry in Normandy. 



Mr. M. C. Gurney, Her Majesty's Consul at Cherbourg, in 

 his report for the year 1896 on the trade and agriculture of 

 the Consular district of Cherbourg, gives some interesting- 

 particulars concerning the growth and present condition of 

 the dairy industry of Normandy. He states that in the year 

 1 86 1 the port of Cherbourg exported to England, via 

 Southampton, about 300 tons of butter, valued to the producer 

 at gd. per lb. This export trade increased very slowly until 

 the Franco-German war, which, by partially closing the Paris 

 market, until then supplied from this district, induced local 



