Decembek 2. 
THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 
171 
place at a different date, in different arroiuliscments and 
communes, according to circumstances. Liberty, in the ab¬ 
stract, is a verj' good thing; but, if we are to to have aui/ 
legislation on the subject of game, the liberty of killing half- 
grown birds, and of wading amidst standing, or outlying 
: crops, is a great piece of folly. 
! Fishing is also locally regulated. An Ordonnunce pub- 
I lished not long since, sets forth, that the taking of fresh- 
j water fish is forbidden in all navigable and floatable rivers 
I and streams, in all canals, brooks, and water-courses what- 
] ever throughout the Department of the Seine-lnferieur, at 
' all hoiu's of the day and night, during the tune of spawning, 
! under certain penalties. The spawning season is fixed 
I from the 1st of January to the :31st of March inclusive, 
! for trout; from the 1st of March to the 1st of May, for 
eels ; from the 1st of April to the 31st of May, for barbel, 
bream, chub, pike, roach, perch, carp, gudgeon, and bleak. 
The taking of sea-fish which ascend the rivers and 
streams, such as salmon, sturgeon, lamprey, flounder, 
and mullet, may be practised at all seasons, attending 
to the regulated size of the flounders and mullets taken; 
but the fishers must throw back into the river any fresh¬ 
water-fish which they may catch along with the sea-fish 
during the close time. Smelts may be taken only from the 1st 
! of October to the 15th of April. Fishing may be practised an 
I hour before sunrise, and an hour after sunset. It is pro- 
I hibited during the rest of the night, except at the arches 
i of bridges, at dykes, locks, and sluices, where it may go on 
! l)y night as well as by day. The fishing for salmon, 
I flounders, mullets, &c., is also excepted from this prohibi- 
! tion, for they may be taken at any hour of the day and 
; night. The shrimp and prawn fishery (by nets) is also 
restricted, for the sake of sparing the fry of turbot, cod, 
soles, ifcc., which are usually taken with them. But, it 
should be remembered, that a single fish of prey—and all 
are fishes of prey—a middle-sized cod, or skate, or turbot, 
will malte more havoc among the rising generation of their 
own nearest relations, than half-a-dozen human shrimp- 
catchers. 
Normandy cider has so well-established a reputation as to be 
desei-vedly world-famous. But the Normandy of the oUregime 
has, since the First Revolution, been divided into the five 
dejiartments of Seine, Inferieure, Eure, Calvados, Orne, 
and Manche. Though cider is abundant in all these, 
Calvados is pre-eminent, both for quantity and quality, 
and is the main source of that enormous supply of terres¬ 
trial nectar which annually Hows from the earth, through 
the stems of innumerable apple-trees, to assuage the thirst 
and cheer the liearts of hundreds of thousands of hard¬ 
working mortals. The beverage itself derives a name from 
the department, exactly as Moselle, Champagne, and St. 
Jiilien are wines that are designated by the title of their 
place of growth and vintage. CALVADOS, printed in large 
letters on the sign-board or shutters of any house of enter¬ 
tainment in Normandy, means to say that there a draught of 
Calvados cider is to be had. 
A distinction is made in Normandy, which is hardly 
known out of it, between the different qualities of, cider. 
The strongest and the best only is honoured with the name 
of cidre; the weaker and inferior—anytliing in the shape of 
a second-chop brewing—is styled hoisson, or drink. Of both 
immense qirantities are consumed, of the latter especially, 
which, when well-flavoured, as it most frequently is, and 
from a cool cellar, is even more deliciously refreshing, on a 
hot summer’s day, than the more potent liquor. Cidre only 
is thought worthy of being bottled ; boisson never, except in 
large stone ware receptacles for the day’s convenience and 
consumption. Boisson is always very cheap ; it flows every- 
w'here, almost like water. Cider varies in price, according 
to its real or fancied merit, and the pains and taste bestowed 
on the mode of bottling it. The dearest I have ever tasted 
was at an inn at Montevilliers, where this special bin was 
called Siller;/ de Normandie, and leaded dow'n at the cork, 
and smartly labelled, like Champagne. We were charged a 
franc, or tenpence, the bottle ; and it certainly was excellent. 
But we are now using some very nearly as good, at six sons, or 
threepence, for a large stone bottle holding four good tum¬ 
bler glasses. The most luxurious of tliese drinks is first- 
; rate draught cider out of one of their large buriques, or 
barrels, that is just fresh tapped. 
A sentence or two from a Havre paper will illustrate both 
the great drought of April 1852, and the plentifulness of cider 
in Normandy:—“ The want of water in those localities where 
there are wells and reservoirs only, and no streams, has 
come to such a state, that in some houses they make use of ^ 
boisson for domestic purposes. There are many parishes 
where it is absolutely necessary to fetch water eight kilo¬ 
metres (about four miles English), and where, consequently, 
there is real economy in employing boisson to take its place. 
We are assured that many (religiou.s) processions have 
already been undertaken, in order to obtain the cessation 
of this so injmious drought.” 
Immediately after entering within the boundary of Nor¬ 
mandy, the abundance of this popular beverage is perceptible, 
from the manner in which it is, in Norfolk phrase, slumped 
upon the table at every meal, at every inn. Large wide¬ 
mouthed decanters full of the pale yellow fluid, slightly 
bubbling and sparkling from the cask, and without stoppers, 
which are never dreamt of, drop hither and thither on the j 
well-covered board, and utterly push the water-bottles aside. 
It is an effectual, tliough not altogetheracompletee-xpulsionof ; 
the weaker by the stronger. Empty the decanter of boisson, 
which stands at your elbow, and, presto! behold another 
filled to the very neck; but you sometimes have to ask two 
or three times for a glass of water fresh from the well. At 
a table d’hote breakfast, all the cider you can swallow is 
included in the charge; I have sometimes thought, that 
the more you drink of it, the better they hke you; but if 
you take coffee at your morning meal, that is considered an 
extravagance, and is made an extra item in the bill. For 
the almost universal fashion at the Norman inns, is to eat 
only two meals a day, and those right good ones, breakfast 
at ten, and dinner at five o’clock. I have long tried to find 
the difference between the dejeuner, and the dinner, but 
cannot discover it. At first, a false clue to the secret was 
given by the occasional absence of soup; but we went 
further, and fared better. A genuine Norman breakfast 
begins with soup, with oysters, and prawns, perhaps, as a 
preliminary skirmish to the coming onslaught; then it 
proceeds legitimately through boiled beef, salad, ragout, 
cutlets, fish, roast meat, and so on, and concludes with a 
dignified dessert of fruit, cheese, and sugar biscuits. Every¬ 
body drinks boisson, cider, and wine ; 'water may be had with 
a little pains-taking. Tea and coffee are no more alluded 
to than if the company were at one of Lucullus’s suppers 
in the hall of Apollo. It is absurd to apply the terms of 
“breakfasting and dining,” to such a course of regimen. 
Areal Norman never “breakfasts,” at least in public; he 
only eats two dinners a day. And there is little distinction 
of sex in this matter. If a lady sits down to table, and eats a 
plate of soup, a slice of beef, a mutton chop, a couple of rolls, a 
a quantity of salad or green haricots, a slice of gruyere, a 
pear, and a peach, with a tumbler or two of Bourdeaux 
wine slighly diluted with water,—Will any Englishman call 
that a “ breakfast,” at whatever hour of the day the deed 
may be done? And if the same feats are performed at any 
subsequent hour, what is that? Dining again. But every i 
country has its own customs; and it must be allowed that | 
the appearance of the Normans generally does full credit to j 
the liberality of their diet. IMany of the women are perfect ■ 
models of the Michael Angelo style of figure; and men six 
feet high and upwards, bony and muscular, with broad 
shoulders, large good-humoured features, and tlie limbs of 
giants, which do not quite answer to our usual notion of 
Frenchmen, any ten of whom can be thrashed by any one 
Englishman. I got considerable credit for observing that 
the Normans could not be an ordinaiy people ; otherwise they 
would not have effected the conquest of England; and, on 
reflection, I cannot confess the remark to be either false or 
too flattering. At Valogues, particularly, I was struck with 
several faces which bore a remarkable resemblance to the 
portraits of the notables of our early history. Fancy might 
be something, but not everything in the matter. D. 
(To be continued.) 
DORCHESTER POULTRY SHOWL 
This Show, on the 24th of November, taken altogether, 
was a very good one for the first; there were 200 pens of 
bh'ds, including several pens of extra stock. “ The Town 
