12 
EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS. 
men at Newcastle indulge themselves in a snail-feast 
once a year, and collect them from the fields and hedge- 
rows on the Sunday previous.* Addison, in his Travels, 
mentions having seen a snail garden, or escargotiere,^^ 
at the Capucins, in Friburg. It was a square place 
boarded in, filled with a vast quantity of large snails. 
The floor was strewn about half a foot deep with several 
kinds of plants, for the snails to nestle amongst during 
the winter. When Lent arrived, their magazines were 
opened, and a ragout made of snails. 
“ Escargotieres,^^ or snail gardens, have been in use 
for a length of time in various parts of Europe. Dr. 
Ebrard, in his pamphlet, ‘ Des Escargots,^ states that M. 
Fischer, of Bordeaux, mentions those of Brunswick, 
Silesia, and Copenhagen, which latter furnished snails 
for the tables of the noble Danes in the eighteenth cen- 
tury. 
In Barrois, an ‘‘ escargotiere consists of a cask 
with the head staved in, covered with a net; or a square 
hole with the sides lined with wood, and fastened over at 
the top with an iron trellis, or with a simple hurdle made 
of light osier-sticks. The snails are placed in as they 
find them, until there are sufficient for a repast, or for 
sale. They are also kept in these places till they are 
fattened, or till they close their shells with their epi- 
phragm, which enables them to be more easily trans- 
ported. In Lorraine, a corner of the garden is often 
given up to the snails, surrounded with a fine trellis-work 
to prevent their escaping, and all kinds of vegetables are 
placed inside which are most appreciated by them. 
During the winter, the escargots (their shells 
* Since the above was written, a correspondent of ‘ Land and Water ’ 
says the glassmen’s snail feast, at Usewcastle, no longer exists. 
