THE POULTRY BOOK. 
201 
Agriculturists’ dinner, held during the show, the discussion of the merits of the 
poultry was the chief topic, and the first agriculturists in France were called upon 
to decide practically on the comparative merits of two breeds — the La Bresse and 
the Crevecoeurs. Fowls were discussed in every sense both during and after dinner. 
Their feeding, cost, age, and market price were enlarged upon by keen advo- 
cates, with a view to giving prominence to the peculiar merits of their respective 
favourites. The loss of weight occasioned by various modes of cookery came at 
last under discussion, and the questions mooted became too subtle and various to 
he decided without an adjourned meeting and more elaborate tests. 
At the dinner held on the 26th of January, 1865, the discussion was renewed, 
and some Houdan breeders entered the lists against the Crevecoeurs and the Bres- 
sians, the former competitors. 
Five specimens were selected from each of the three rival breeds for special 
comparison, and were weighed before and after being prepared for the cook, and 
also when roasted. 
The average weight of these fowls 
was as follows : — 
La Bresse. 
Houdan. 
Crevecceur. 
lb. oz. 
lb. oz. 
lb. oz. 
Unprepared 
C 12 , 
...5 4. 
.. 4 11 
Prepared for the cook 
5 51 , 
...4 3. 
.. 3 14 
Cooked 
3 3| , 
... 2 15| . 
.. 2 124 
L’, more precisely, the loss per cent. 
, was as follows ; — 
La Bresse. 
Houdan. 
Crevecceur. 
In preparing for the cook 
20-98 .. 
. 20-32 .. 
. 17-58 
In cooking 
40-68 .. 
. 28-83 .. 
. 28-42 
Total loss per cent. 52‘51 ... 44*32 ... 40-95 
The Crevecceur chickens are stated by M. de Kergolay to have been younger 
than their rivals, and on that account to have lost less weight, since the fatting 
process had not been carried so far in their case. 
The Houdan breed are also very precocious ; those hatched with the new year 
being ready for market by the middle of April, after three weeks of fatting on 
barley-meal moistened in milk, “bolted” three times a day without drink, the 
cost of food being Is. to la. ^d. 
M. de Lavergne, one of the highest French agricultural authorities, contributed 
to “ Le Journal d’ Agriculture Pratique ” for January, 1865, a paper on “ the 
Importance of Poultry in France.” This valuable article was reproduced in the 
Journal of the Koyal Agricultural Society of England, with other important docu- 
ments, which were translated by Mr. Frere, from whose paper we have derived 
much valuable information on the subject of the present chapter. 
M. de Lavergne states that in 1840 no notice was taken of poultry in the statistics 
of the empire ; in 1858 it was stated incidentally that the proceeds amounted to 
88,000,000 francs (£3,500,000), derived half from poultry proper, and half from 
eggs and feathers, — an estimate much below the mark, as he proceeds to show. 
With reference to eggs, there are existing accounts by which that estimate may 
