216 
THE POULTRY BOOS. 
weekly supply of some thousands throughout the winter, weighing from 2 lb. to 
6 lb. apiece. Several communes realize more than ^80 per week for four or five 
months for their poultry. The price varies with, the season, being highest about 
New Year’s Day, especially if the weather is cold, and admits of carriage to a 
distance. 
The general run of prices at Bourg Market is— 
s. 
d. 
s. 
d. 
For fowls, lialf-fat, weigliing 3 lb. 
... 2 
6 
to 3 
4 
„ „ 4 lb. 
... 4 
0 
„ 5 
0 
Choice specimens : — 
Poiilarcles, 6 lb. (nett) 
... 7 
0 
„ 8 
0 
Gallons, 8 lb. 
... 8 
0 
„ 10 
0 
„ 10 lb, 
... 12 
0 
» 14 
6 
‘^Very choice capons sometimes make as much as apiece. During the 
last twenty years the price has not varied materially, but the sale has at least 
tripled. 
On every farm poultry is fatted to a certain extent, but the trade in choice 
specimens is, in some measure, confined to small proprietors or farmers in certain 
communes on the borders of La Bresse and Kevormont. One of these ‘ Chambriers' 
will sell between September and March 200 to 300 fowls, half-fat, or prime-fat 
specimens, making of his poultry alone from ^3 to nearly £5 per acre of his 
occupation. 
“All do not succeed alike, even when favourably circumstanced, for certain 
families and farms enjoy a special reputation ; but success generally depends on 
having the breed quite pure. Cross-breeding has been tried at various times, to 
increase the size or improve the quality of the race, but these attempts proved 
failures. When a cross with the far-famed Cochins was tried there was a gain in 
size, but a loss in delicacy and flavour, so that this cross is now quite interdicted. 
Any fowl that shows the least sign of cross-breeding by a yellow tinge, or even by 
having yellow scales on the legs, loses at once one-fifth or one-sixth of its value at 
market. These attempts have served at least to establish the value of the breed, 
and the importance of maintaining its purity. 
“ In short, their delicate mould, early maturity, and readiness to fatten, make 
them the short-horns of the poultry-yard, with this advantage over their bovine 
rivals — that the quality of the flesh is first-rate, as various renowned epicures have 
testified. Until lately the poultry of La Bresse was little known or appreciated at 
Paris, though for forty years it has been exported to St. Petersburg. 
“ The breed is hardy, and will adapt itself to all parts of France. But the fatting 
trade is not so accommodating. To insure success not only the pure breed and 
the proper food (white maize and buckwheat) must be procured, but the skill and 
the habits handed down from one generation to another among the farmers of La 
Bresse must be naturalized and followed up.” 
In reading this account of the habits of the fowls of the district of La Bresse, 
