Passaic City record., 1892-08-06
THE CANARY-BIRD TRADE.
A HOUSE INDUSTRY OF NEEDY
GERMAN PEASANTS.
Poor Families Ralse the Feathered
Singers in Their Homes-This
Country BUYS the Most Canaries.


Country Buys the Most Canaries.
ZOR more than a century the
II business of raising canaries has
rendered bare existence pos
sibility to many poor people
in Germany. Fifty years ago it had
already grown to such dimensions that
it became necessary to seek foreign
outlet for the trade. About 1850 the
German dealers began making shipments
to New York, and finally they turned
their attention chiefly to the United
States, the demand from this side of the
water having become very great. Dur
ing the last year canary birds were
third in money value among the articles
exported to the United States from
Hanover.
The breeding of canary birds in Ger
many is mainly house industry of poor
and needy people. Their profit is, of
course, small; but to the poor, who can
hardly earn daily bread, their bird cages
are like little savings banks, from which
they can draw at regular intervals trife
that, added to their other earnings,
enables them to make ends meet. The
canary bird industry, without making
any serious claim upon the peasants
time or care, cheers his home and brings
him modest profit. Having in the
summer raised brood of young birds,
he awaits with anxiety the visit of the
dealer in the autumn, which will place
in his hands money to help him through
the winter.
The principal seat of the industry was
formerly the Hartz Mountains, where the
poor mountaineers, engaged chiefly in
mining and numbering, were in great
need. Almost every family had in the
sitting room, In the bedroom, or in gar
ret breeding place for birds. In the
summer the food necessary for the birds
was easily obtainable, and before the
winter came the dealer had purchased
them. After the Hartz Mountains be-
came more frequented by visitors desir-
Gus of improving their health in the pure
air. the poverty of the mountaineers was
diminished, and the canary bird indus
try fell off more and more. At present
only fine singers are bred in the Hartz,
and for these the dealer must pay high
price. The industry was then transferred
to Eichsfelde, in the province of Han
over, where there are many poor weav-
ers. Nearly all of these are now en-
gagged in the breeding of the cheaper
varieties of canary birds. The industry
exists also in the poorer districts of
Hesse, in the great Lunenburg Moor, in
parts of Westphalia, and among the
Sudetic Mountains in Saxony. About
250, 200 canary birds are raised every
year in Germany.
First in Importance is the market of
the United States, which takes in round
numbers 100, 900 birds per annum. Next
is the English market, which takes about
$4,000 per annum. Then come Brazil,
Chile, the Argentine Republic and Aus
tralia. To these countries statesmen are
sent with canary birds every year. The
rest, especially the finer Hartz birds, are
sold in Germany, where more weight is
given to fneness of song and where
higher prices can be obtained than any,
where else. The average price for ordi-
nary canary birds is from sixty to eighty
cents for males. Hence the canary bird
industry adds about / 1000, 900 marks per
year to Germany's National wealth, and
this amount goes chiefly into the hands
of the poorest class.
The growth of this industry is due to
two causes: The German bird dealers
have always been very enterprising, and
the canary birds raised in Germany are
said to sing better than any others.
While very beautiful birds are raised in
England, in song they are surpassed by
the German canaries. German dealers
claim that canary birds bred from I'M
ported parents in the United States are
poor singers, owing to the warmth of
our climate.
About two-thirds of the 100, 900
canary birds exported annually from
Germany to the United States are i'm
ported by German resident of New
York. At Braunlage, in the Hartz, this
man has factory which is capable OF
turning out every day the material for
one thousand bird cages. The material
is given out to the peasants, who make
the cages at home. The birds are
shipped to New York. via Bremen, ac-
companied by attendants. Each at
tendant has under his care about 1000
birds, each in its wooden cage. AS each
bird must be fed and cared for regular
ly, the attendants are kept busily en-
pIoyed. One of these attendants has
already crossed the ocean more than a
hundred times in charge of birds. There
are thirty such employees. The New
York house disnoses of these birds-the