The Express.
London, England, 1866-12-25 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, truESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 25, 1866.

Nlpe is stated to be ti*
not •terrible lose of 10
Vanier Von ?boil, ontleei
aler•rope vrosida:ascssegagabsi*
Lave become anis

PARIS, SATURDAY MINING.
I am tempted away from the Champ de Mars for
▪ day, that I may be enabled to give your readers
au account of the Christmas or New Year's show of
fat ve.ltry, arranged in the spacious galleries of
the Feeds de l'lndustrie. The exhibition juist
closed was more extensive and comprehensive than
those which have preceded it. In addition to the
fat poultry there has been this year an interna-
tional competitive exhibition of cheeses, more im-
portant in its range and proportions than the
former shows of cheese. It is amusing to mark the
contrasts that suggest themselves to the English
visitor, in the elegant Paris poultry show, between
the country folk who are brought to London by
our Christmas cattle show and the strange provin-
cial figures that crop up to guard the gigantic tur-
keys, geese, and capons which are coquettishly
ranged upon a series of blue counters ornamented
with evergreens, and arrayed in ribbons, in the
Champs Elysies. Here were Norman dames, with
their brown, sharp faces, looking browner under
their snowy caps, and shrill-voiced little women from
the southern provinces, together with rough farming
men with short bran new blouses over their holiday
clothes, all driving hard bargains with the keen
old rtirmands who were lifting the capons of la
Fleche or la Braise, that were as heavy as legs of
mutton in their lean hands. There was a most
distinguished company present, and very learned
were their remarks on the way in which this capon
should be dressed or that duck should be treated.
Along the extensive and highly decorated counter,
inscribed "d r Hamm de /es Roche de Lyons,"
there were lines of eager ladies and gentlemen
lingering over the foie gras and the trufiks. The
central trophy of the counter was a lofty monu-
ment of charcuterie, the chief adornments of which
were magnificent truffles on silver skewers, that
enriched the air far and wide about them. There
were fine critics, also, wandering about the big
butter saloon. The butter lay in immense pyra-
midal and other forms, yellow as crocuses or white
as cream. It was from every part of France, and
in the list of the exhibitors were noblemen. The
het, indeed, was led off by the Princess Baociochi,
whose farming skill is well known, and who sent
samples of fresh butter priced at 1 franc 2 sous
the half kilogramme. There were 424 lots of
poultry, making between three and four thousand
specimens of geese, turkeys, ducks, pigeons,guinea
fowl, and fowls. The salon entre, or salon of honour,
was devoted to the immense capons and pullets of
la Breese and la Fleche races. Trussed as they were
for the French manner of cooking, the legs and
wings pressed into the fat aides until the whole
assumes very much the form of a leg of mutton,
they would not have been recognised by English-1
men as specimens of poulty were it not for the
festher-tuftedheads thatwere left danglingover the
edges of the counter. The great tufts of head-fea-
thers of the Breese breed, hanging down like fea-
ther brushes. Some of the groups of Fleche capons
were of extraordinary size and fatness, and white-
ness. There were three ornamented with red rib-
bons round their black tails that were marked "sold
to M. Chevet" Excited groups lingered
over the prize Fleche fowls which the restaurateur
Martin had secured. The dingy rows of little
pigeons in the next salon made a pitiful appearance
after the white giants of the poultry-yard I had
jot seen. In the room with the pigeons were some
specimens of the renowned Cravecoeur breed, easily
recognisable by their thickly tufted black heads.
Some idea of their size may be gained by the
mention of the price that was firmly asked for
them. I assisted at a bargain carried on with
vivacity on both sides, the shrewd countryman
being determined not to be taken in by the equally
shrewd Parisian. The price asked by the exhibitor
for capons was 41., and he would not abate his
price by a sou. Near the Craveseure were the
Houdan capons and pullets. These, like the Nor-
man breeds, are much smaller than the La Flkhe
or Breese breeds. But they look less like the
effects of over-feeding. The Fleche and Breese
birds are apt to be unpleasantly oily. The Houdan
birds are trussed in a peculiar way, with their
wings stretched out, while the Norman capons were
submitted to epicurean Paris, with a few of their
quills fancifully stuck into them. The Houdan
capons of moderate size sold at the rate of three
for twenty francs. From the fowl saloons the way
led tothe great turkey salon. All the turkeys were
of extraordinary size and weight ; but I never
saw finer birds than the prize group of male
turkeys. There was the first prize, and the prize
of honour, over which some fifteen country drones
were having a hot discussion, the knotty point
being whether the prix d'houneur was a higher
one than the first prize. The moat surprising
birds, however, were the geese, which had also a
salon to themselves. They were of the size of, and
shaped like square bed pillows, and their feathered
necks looked like snuffs. By the goose rooms were
slues in which were exhibited the tools and ma-
chines used in the fabrication of butter and cheese,
the most popular of which appeared to be M.
David's hygienic apparatus for milking cows.
Through these sa/ons the visitorapassed to the inter-
national exhibition of cheeses. Fortunatelythemore
pungent samples of the cheese family were under
glass cases ; quite enough, however, remained un-
protected to lead the visitor by the nose from afar
to the whereabouts of this caseous corner of the
palace. There were no leas than 760 samples of
cheese exhibited in one vast saber, the cheeses of
each country being indicated upon the walls.
England made a very poor figure ; not that the
cheeses exhibited in the English department were
indifferent samples, but because the cheese
dairies of England were represented by two firms I,
—namely, Mr. Gibbons, of Bath, and Illessrs.Clark
and Son, of Bristol. The Cheddar, Gloucester,
Berkeley, Stilton, and Cottenham cheeses, exhi-
bited by the latter firm, were of excellent quality ;
but they were not in variety enough to give a jury
an idea of the dairy wealth of England, or of the
utmost delicacy of our dairies. I very much doubt
whether in all that room there was a cheese that
could have been compared for richness and delicacy
of flavour with that rare Cotheratone cheese which
is to be had now and then, by very small quantities,
in London. In the collection of European cheeses
were some strange and puzzling ones. They were
in all shapes and of all sizes, fresh and ripe, of
cows', goats', and sheep's milk. The French and
Dutch departments were the richest in varieties.
Gruyeres, Brines, Coulommiers, Camemberts, Bon-
dons, Malakoffs, Rollots, Macqueilles, Marolles,
Itstueforts, Neufchatels, Mont d'Ors, Gournays,
Dutch cheeses of many kinds, Flanders " tiles,"
were in abundance, and were examined critically
by tiles of Parisian connoisseurs. From Belgium
there were samples of the Herve cheeses, and a col-
lection of indigenous cheeses exhibited by M. de
Borges, of Vilvorde. There were Gruyeres from
Switzerland, Parmesans from Milan and Parma,
Ilieheimer cheeses from Westphalia, wine cheeses
from Hesse Cassel, Brimsen Kiise from Hungary,
Myseosts from Denmark, Ranmatur cheeses from,
Bavaria, and cheeses of sheep's milk from Arabia.
Generally it may be said of this year's exhibition,'
that it was not up to the mark of last year in the
poultry department. The cheese show was, how_ I
ever, rich and plentiful, and the new features in-
troduced, namely, the exhibition of tools and ma-
okines for butter-making, was a step in the right
direction. The Parisians are beginning to take a
strong interest in their great annual exhibitions of
Poultry-yard and dairy produce. It is said already
that the plan will be further extended next year,
10 as to include every edible form of farm moduce.
This year the turkey show has been incomparably
the most satisfactory. M. Fleury, of Gambois,
Seine-et-Oiae, has carried off the first prize of the
exhibition with a group of four splendid birds. It
18 said that in giving the prize of honour to the
turkeys, the jury got rid of a great difficulty ; the
merits of the Breese, Fleche, Houdan, and Crave-
*elle fowls being evenly balanced. It will be inte-
resting probably to your agricultural readers to
nail the list of prize-holders for poultry :
• Sm. Blanc, Poneet, et Cheirat, de Way (Ain) ; Cham-
bord (Alexandre), de Villemotier (Ain) ; Purt et Prabet,
de Prontenand (3aene-et-Loire) il Vlancher, au
)(weir (trine-et-Loire) ; MM. Foulard (Pierre) fib, Cor-

bin et Desjarclina, de Viilaibell4ous-idaticorne (Barthel ;
Aneeaurne, de Gambia. ;Seine-et-Oise) ; Leblanc (Jean-
Baptiste), de flaint-Amand (Manche) • Yvon, au 13eny-
Bocage (Calvados) ; Mme. Griard, a Vert-en-Druais (Eure-
et-Lmr) ; MM. Gaubert, de Saint-Georges-ear-Eure (Enre-
et-Leir) ; Bertot, de Prunay-le-Temple (Seine-et-Oise) ;
Mme. la Captained. Belbent, aßelbeeni (Seine-Infrieure);
Mine. Lefrard, avenue de la Motte-Piquet, de Paris ; M.
Vanquelin, i Memil-sons-Jumiiges (Seine-Inferie ;
Mme. de Remusat, i Witte (Haute-Garonne); MM.
Labouiche, de Villefranche-de-Lauragais (Haute-Garonne) ;
Le Baron y, Valframbort (Orne) ;de Monte, Bel-
legsrde (Gers ; Mme. la Comteme de Preissac, i Verdun-
sur-Garonne Tarn-et-Garonne) ; MM. Gilleron, i Epdae
(Seine-et-Oise) ; M. Penelle, i Mitinville (Seine-et-Oise).
The juries who undertook to judge the qualities
of six or seven hundred varieties of cheese were
allowed only two days for their labours. The
Gruyeres seem to be:on the whole the finest cheeses
in the collection. Messrs. Clark and Son, of
Bristol, have received a gold medal for their
Cheddars and Stilton'. The gold medal for
Gruyeres has been awarded to &Bavarian exhibitor.
The gold medallist for Brie is M. Maurice, of Tril-
bardon Seine-et-Marne. The Camembert gold
medallists are M. Leon Gautier, of Camembert,
and widow Lebrert, of Mezidon. M. Leseoq.
of Neufchatel, Lower Seine, has won the gold
medal for Bondons. There are two gold medallists
for Roquefort, MM. Pierre Lasso' and Coupiac,
both of Roquefort. M. Julliard, of Brinand,
Ain, and M. Emile Leconte, of Ville Blevin, have
obtained gold medals for Gruyeres. No medals
whatever were awarded for fresh Neufchatels. The
prize of honour, making the holder king of this in-
ternational cheese exhibition, has been awarded to
M. Julliard—the Gruyere factor alreadymentioned.
In the list of prizeholders, as cheese exhibitors,
will be found the following names :
MM.Van Queninbroak, a Amsterdam (Hollande) ; War-
nink,i Gotta. (Hollande) ; Bultman, a Haarlemmermeer
(Holland') ; Jean Van der Maiden, é Lecoduinen (Hol-
lande); Schnetter, Kompten(laviire); Ecquey, i Fribourg
(Sulam) ; Martin, a Yemenis (Suisse) ; Maurice, I Trilbar-
don (Seine-et-Marne) ; Gibe* t Jouarre (Seine-et-Marne) ;
Chatelin,a Buillancy (Oise) ; Drevault, iGuerard(Seine-et-
Marne) ; Devauville, I Coulommiers (Seine-et-Marne) ;
Magnet and Besaert, a Saint Augustin (Seine-et-Manie) ;
Engel, I Vim (Wurtemberg) ; Ferrari a Panne (Italie) ;
Count Seventhatechowitz (Moravia) ; Deasounaux, I
Charnecen (Belgium) ; Von KAM, Trankwita (Prussia) ;
Schmitd, We (Baden).
The care given to the production of poultry in
France, and the manner in which fowls are reared
at a cheaper rate than in England, are advantages
over us in the farmyard, which many of our agri-
culturists are beginning to admit. M. Teget
Myer, an authority on the subject, ha" remarked
that " the systems pursued in the culture of
poultry in France and in England are strangely
in opposition to the characteristic traits of the
two nations. In France attention is almost
solely given to the practical value of the birds,
and methods of feeding are adopted which
are far superior to those followed in this country :
the result being, that the generality of the
fowls found in the markets of Parts are of
much better quality than those seen in the shops of
the poulterers of London." We have looked to
purity of blood and regularity of marking in the
plumage rather than to weight and flavour.
English poultry shows are of handsome birds ;
those of France are dead poultry shows, at which
the prize birds are those with the largest propor-
tion of flesh, the whitest skin and fat, and the
most rapid rearing. These valuable table quali-
ties, which the four great French breeds possess in
so eminent a degree, have of late years drawn the
attention of some of our agriculturists to the de-
sirability of importing them into our yards. It is
acknowledged that the La Fleche breed are greatly
superior, both as table birds and as egg-layers, to
the Spanish fowls, which have been so popular
of late in England on account chiefly of their
beauty.
Mademoiselle Millet Rosbnet is a great authority
on French poultry fattening. Her plan is to secure
pullets when they are six or seven months old in
coups, so that they cannot turn round. The poor
little prisoners are here fattened on buckwheat
meal !kneaded with sweet milk. Buckwheat, it
must be remembered, is of hardy growth, and is
cheap. Buckwheat and dough are cut into pellets
and literally crammed into the crop of the bird with
the finger. This cramming is performed with great
punctuality twice daily. Wonderful care is taken
of the bird's health, lest it should suffer from in-
digestion, and so lose weight. Three weeks' cram-
ming completes the fattening, and then the bird is
killed instantaneously by piercing the brain. The
flesh so produced is plentiful, and the fat is white.
A little more than a peck of buckwheat will com-
pletely fatten a bird. Certainly the pullets, and
capons, and turkeys I have just seen in the Palais
de l'lndustrie are not to be matched for weight
and fineness of flesh in England.