Nature and Art, December 1, 1866.] 
THE POULTRY OF FRANCE. 
233 
to be lavished on old walls. And Dlirer, when he 
had designed Maximilian’s car of triumph in the 
Townhall of Nuremberg, left all the execution to 
his scholars. In spite of this northern distaste for 
frescoes, Holbein completed several ; but by damp, 
or fire, or vandalism, all have perished. 
A portion of the fagade of Hertenstein’s house 
was adorned with the Triumph of Ccesar, freely 
adapted from the copperplate engraving of Andrea 
Mantegna ; and here we see one channel of Italian 
influence, in immediate connection with Holbein. 
On the spaces left by the windows, above the 
Triumph , were scenes of Greek and Roman story ; 
among others that of Lesena, the girl who bit off 
her tongue rather than give evidence against Har- 
modius and Aristogeiton : this is the study that 
still remains. But the chief subject of the facade 
was a romance from that rnediteval treasury the 
Gesta Romanorum. By the will of a dead king 
(runs the tale), it was found that two of his sons 
were disowned by him ; the third was to be his 
heir ; but he had forgotten to add the name. One 
of the strange judges of legendary times decreed 
that all three should shoot at the dead king’s body, 
as at a target. Two of them shot ; but one turned 
his head away, and thereupon the judge proclaimed 
him to be the lawful king. This curious subject 
has been treated by Francesco Ubertini (a pupil of 
Perugino), and by others, says Dr. Woltmann ; 
but the “ unhandsome corpse ” makes an ugly blot 
in all their pictures. Not so in Holbein’s. Here 
the dead father is set upon his kingly chair, in his 
robes, and the crown on his head, — a figure of 
bearded majesty, like Charlemagne in his tomb at 
Aix-la-Chapelle. 
In the chapel was a pastoral scene — a herdsman 
visited by a vision of the child Jesus, surrounded 
by the Fourteen Need-helpers, who are personages 
of a German legend. In the dwelling-house were 
hunting and battle pieces ; and, above all, the 
Fountain of Youth, where the old and halt and 
blind were seen washing themselves young and 
fresh again. 
Dr. Woltmann’s restoration, fairer, perhaps, than 
the reality, has proved for us such a palace of 
Armida, that we did not know how to leave it. 
We must now wait another month, before we 
present Holbein as a Master Painter to our 
readers; and if any of them should be induced, 
meanwhile, to read Dr. Woltmann’s book for 
themselves, we feel that we shall have done them 
good service. 
THE POULTRY OF FRANCE. 
By W. B. Tegetmeier (Editor of the “ Poultry Book.”) 
T HE systems pursued in the culture of poultry in 
France and England are strangely in oppo- 
sition to the characteristic traits of the two nations. 
In France attention is almost solely given to the 
practical value of the birds, and methods of feeding 
are adopted which are far superior to those followed 
in this country ; the result being that the 
generality of the fowls found in the markets of 
Paris are of much better quality than those seen in 
the shops of the poulterers of London. 
On the other hand in England — a country that 
prides itself on the practical character of its pursuits, 
more especially those that bear upon the production 
of animal food — poultry, as a rule, are badly cared 
for, and, excepting the comparatively few first-class 
Dorkings that are to be seen in the shops of the 
west-end London poulterers, the supply of table 
fowls is alike scanty and inferior. 
It is true that of late years the establishment of 
poultry-shows in this country has led to great im- 
provement in the different breeds ; but the charac- 
teristics that have been mainly attended to have 
been those of showing purity of blood, and regularity 
of marking in the plumage, rather than such as 
render the fowls more valuable as table poultry. 
At the English shows we rarely see prizes offered 
for the best fowls, considered with especial reference 
to their value on the table. In France, on the 
contrary, shows of dead fat poultry are held, at 
which large prizes are offered for the best specimens, 
those with the largest proportion of flesh compared 
with the weight of bone and valueless parts, the 
whitest skin and fat, and such as show signs of 
rapid growth and early maturity. 
At one of these exhibitions held at the Palais 
de l' Industrie , at Paris, between two and three 
thousand specimens of fowls, ducks, geese and 
turkeys, all trimmed ready for cooking, competed 
for the prizes offered for the encouragement of this 
branch of rural economy. The first prize for fowls 
was a gold medal and the sum of 4,000 francs. 
After the awards, the judges, consisting of the 
president of the Corps Legislatif for the district of 
La Bresse, two inspectors-general of agriculture, 
four farmers, and four dealers in poultry, had 
specimens of the various breeds cooked and tested 
practically, when the cost of feeding, age of 
specimens, market price, and loss of weight in the 
various jwocesses of cookery, tenderness and sapidity 
of flesh were taken into consideration. 
The best idea of the great value attached to 
poultry as a supply and source of food in France, 
may be obtained from a consideration of the 
statistics of the subject, as compiled by M. de 
Lavergne, one of the most trustworthy of the 
French agricultural authorities. The annual value 
of the eggs produced in France is estimated by him 
at no less than 125,000,000 francs, or £5, 000, 000. 
The poultry he values at an equal amount. Sup- 
posing these estimates to be correct, and there is no 
reason to doubt their accuracy, the consumption of 
eggs and poultry would amount to 5s. per head 
