Roquevaire Caper Industry. 



221 



table. All the animals received bran and wheat in addi- 

 tion : — 





Weight at 

 beginning. 



Weight at 

 end. 



Gam per 

 day. 



Cost per 

 month. 





lbs. 



lbs. 



lbs. 



s. d. 



Mixed hay ----- 



930 



1,228 



2-27 



10 10 



Lucerne 



921 



1,164 



i-86 



9 7 



Lucerne and straw ... 



924 



I;233 



2'34 



9 2 



From this it would appear that a ration of lucerne and 

 straw, with grain, proved superior to one of lucerne and 

 grain ; whilst mixed hay and grain proved superior to lucerne 

 and grain, but not quite so good as lucerne, straw, and grain. 



The Caper Industry of Roquevaire (France).* 



The caper industry of Roquevaire, in the department of the 

 Bouches-du-Rhone, presents an interesting case of co-opera- 

 tion undertaken chiefly with the object of ensuring the main- 

 tenance of the reputation of a locality for the quality of its 

 produce. The caper-producers of Roquevaire and of some 

 other neighbouring localities have, it is stated, combined in 

 response to an economic necessity, in order to counteract the 

 continual depression of prices induced by the action of the 

 local trade, which mixed Algerian and Spanish capers of 

 inferior quality with those bought in Provence. The 

 producers of these localities have accordingly determined to 

 take the trade into their own hands, and have formed them- 

 selves into a syndicate for that purpose. Roquevaire contains 

 some 3,000 inhabitants, and nine-tenths of the caper- 

 producers of the commune (who alone are eligible to the 

 association) have engaged to deliver their whole production, 

 amounting to some 220,000 lbs. or more, to the syndicate. 

 The experiment is said to have proved completely successful. 



The caper is the floral bud of a bush [Capparis spinosd) 

 which has been cultivated from time immemorial in Provence. 



*From " La Co-operation de Production dans 1' Agriculture," by the Comte de 

 Rocquigny. 



