CHAPTER XVIII. 
THE FRENCH BREEDS : 
HOUDANS, CREVECCEURS, LA FLECHE, LA BRESSE, GUELDRES, ETC. 
rpHE rearing of poultry for the table has long been regarded as one of the 
staple industries of the French people. As a rule their market fowls are far 
superior to those of England, and are produced in much larger numbers. At 
the present time, we are importing no less than six millions of eggs per week 
from France, and purchasing them at a cheaper rate than they can be produced 
in our own country. These circumstances render it most desirable that we 
should ascertain what the conditions are under which our neighbours surpass 
us in profitable poultry-keeping. 
Attention has recently been directed to poultry-keeping in France by the publi- 
cation in this country of an account of a horse-feeding poultry establishment near 
Paris. This ridiculous hoax would not have been worth notice had it not been 
reproduced and commented upon by persons from whom better judgment might 
have been expected. The account was reprinted in many of our first-class 
periodicals — such as the Gardener's Chronicle, the Mark Lane Express, the 
various agricultural journals, &c. So high an authority as Mr. Cuthbert S. 
Johnston, F.R.S., published the following article respecting it, in the Mark Lane 
Express, Mr. Johnston states : — ■ 
‘^With care and good management, no branch of domestic industry is more 
profitable than rearing poultry. But then we must carefully attend to the pre- 
cautions essential to secure success. Thus, many persons have supposed that 
what is profitable on a small scale might be made still more so when merely 
carried on to a larger extent ; but repeated experiments in this and other 
countries have proved this to be a mistake. The secret of the matter is, that 
hens cannot thrive and lay without a considerable quantity of animal food. 
Where but a limited number of fowls are kept about the farm-yard, the natural 
supply of insects is sufficient to meet this demand ; but when attempts have 
been made to extend the business beyond the source of supply, they have not 
prospered. It will be seen from the following interesting account, that M. de 
Sora, in France, has adopted a method that has proved completely successful, 
by affording an artificial supply of this essential portion of their food. 
The French practical philosophers certainly know how to make the most 
of things. Thus M. de Sora has the power of making hens lay every day in 
the year by feeding them on horseflesh. The fact that hens do not lay eggs 
