THE POULTIIY BOOK. 
203 
or, in round numbers, the chickens sold may be valued at d024,000. But a pamphlet 
printed by M. Delafosse, proprietaire cVOrval, Goussainville pres Hoiiclan, 
estimates the value of the fat chickens sold in the three leading market- towns 
much higher. He states, that it is to be desired that the excellent and fine breed 
of Houdan poultry should be propagated in every other country, as it is in France 
where the poultry trade has taken such a development that it forms one of the 
principal sources of riches. A few statistics of this trade in the neighbourhood 
of Houdan will give a correct idea of its importance. At the markets of Houdan, 
Dreux, mid Nogent-le-Soi, there are sold annually upwards of 6,000,000 fat 
poultry, namely : — 
Per Week, 
Per Year. 
Annual Value. 
Houdan (Cliicf Market in Mantes) 
... 40,000 .. 
,. 1,920,000 
... 76,800 
Dreux 
... 50,000 ., 
,. 2,400,000 
... 96,000 
Nogent-le-Soi 
... 35,000 .. 
. 1,680,000 
... 67,200 
Totals 
... 125,000 
6,000,000 
4^240,000 
a sum ten times as large as the official returns assign to the whole of the three 
“ arrondissements.” Of this sum, £136,000, according to M. Delafosse, is paid by 
the purveyors of Paris to three communes alone, in these proportions : — 
£ 
Goussainville ... 64,000 
Saint Lubiii cle la llaye 60,000 
Ilavelii 12,000 
^136,000 
The remainder is drawn from other communes or purchased by poulterers of 
Versailles, St. Germain, &c. The inference drawn from the comparison of these 
two statements is, that M. de Lavergne is quite within the mark when he mul- 
tiplies threefold the official return of the value of the poultry of France. 
Having treated of the subject of French poultry generally, it is desirable that we 
should enter into an examination of the merits of the different breeds enumerated 
at the head of this chapter. "We will commence with the Houdans. 
In an article on the relative economical merits of the several varieties of French 
poultry which was published in The Field, it was stated : — The Houdans may 
certainly be regarded as the Dorkings of France. Large, heavy, short-legged, five- 
toed fowls, with small, light bone, a remarkable absence of offal, and with irre- 
gularly speckled or mottled plumage, they strongly recall to mind the old-fashioned 
coloured Dorking, as it existed before any attention had been directed to uniformity 
of feathering by the poultry shows. Their merits as table fowl are of the highest 
excellence. No pure-bred chickens mature with greater, or perhaps with as great 
a degree of rapidity ; they feather early, are extremely hardy, and are consequently 
easily reared. The old birds are robust, and the eggs, which are numerous, are 
remarkable as being almost invariably fertile. There can be no doubt of the 
economic value of this race, more especially for table purposes.” 
