The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1881-11-09

Sn0llgs
The great vine snail has quite q his
tory, and it's lease OF life should be a
long one, il that may be measured by
the covers Of endurance. In 1774 the
members of thcRoyal society in England
could not be brought to believe an Irish
collector, who aveired that certain
white snails that had been confined for
fifteen years came out Of their sholls
upon his sons putting them in hot water;
but the possibility of the thing was
proved in 1850, when, after four years
somnolence in the British museum, an
Egyptian desert snail woke up, none
the worse for its long rest and absti-
nence. It fed heartily on lettuce leaves,
and lived for two years longer. Spal-
lsnzain asserted that he had often be-
headed snails without killing them,
and in few months they were as
lively as ever, having grown new heads
in retirement.
1-eating has been in vogue for
many centuries, and was considered
by the ancient Romans one of their
table luxuries. In Pliny's time Barbary
snails stood first in repute, those
in Sicily ranking next; and il was the
custom to fatten them for the table
by dieting them on meal and new wine.
In modern Rome fresh gathered snails
are hawked from door TO door by
women, who boil them in their shells,
stew them, or fry them in oil. Snails
are gathered off the vines by the peas
antry in the wine district of France,
and are sent up in cases and wicker
baskets to Paris halls, where they are
sold by auction, and are purchased by
people who make it their business to
prepare them for the restaurants and
charcutiers. They are killed by being
placed in scalding water, and after
being removed from their shells by the
aid of piece of wire, are thrown into
an immense copper and boiled for three
quarters of an hour in q mixture CON-
posed of water, vinegar, salt and herbs.
They are then replaced in their shells,
the mouths of which are closed with
butter and parsley, and are ready for
sale. To prepare them for the table,
it suffices to place them in the frying
pan for few minutes with o small
piece of butter, and without removing
them from their shells. They are sold
at the wine shops and charcutiers at
thirty and forty centimes the dozen.
A century ago some 100000 Of
snails were annually exported from
Ulm in'' Gags" of 10, 900, fetching from
twenty-five to forty forins " Gag.
In the Tyrol youngsters of both sexes
are employed during the summer
months collecting snails as stock for
small gardens-s plats of land
cleared of trees and covered with heaps
of moss and pine twigs, separated from
each other by moats, having gratings
at their outlets to prevent any truants
that may get into the water from being
carried beyond bounds. The prisoners
are supplied daily with fresh grass and
cabbage leaves until their appetites
fail and they retire into the moss heaps
for their winter sleep-the last one they
will enjoy; for when spring comes
they are routed out of their beds,
packed in straw lined boxes, and sent
on to market. In favorable season one
of these gardens will turn out 40, 600
snails. The consumption of them in
South Tyrol must be great. Snails are
often used, boiled in milk, for diseases
of the lungs, and are sent to this country
as delicacy; they are very indiscrim-
mate in their appetite, and even devour
the dead of their own kind. Snails
delight in warm moist weather; in dry
weather their chief time of activity is
in the night, and they hide themselves
by day; but after rain they come forth
at any hour in quest of food. At the
approach of winter, or in very dry
weather, they close the mouth of the
shell with a membrane formed by the
drying of the mucus substance which
they secrete. and become inactive and
torpid.