The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1902-06-27
NO. 26
SNAIL RAISING FOR PROFIT.
THE UNIQUE OCCUPATION OF A CALIFoR-
MA MAN.

Snail raising for profit is the unique
occupation of California man, and
his small ranch at Los Angeles is sup
posed to be the only place in the Unit
ed States where snails are bred and
raised as an article or food. This odd
industry is little more than tad in
/ this county, but in France the succu-
| lent escargot is in high favor with the
gourmet, 500 tons of them being con-
sumed last year in the City Of Paris
alone.
A few years ago Mr.. A. V. Pernot.
| of Los Angeles, native of France,
imported two d,z'u of the variety
known as "cscargot Bourgogne," and
attempted to found colony of the
Shiny and repulsive appearing crea-
lures. He knew their food value, and
he knew, also, that the sirup d'escar-
| gots" is esteemed of benefit in the
treatment of throat and lung affections.
The variety imported is carnivorous,
and they lived but short time on the
vegetable diet to which they were sub
jected.
Later, says the Chicago Tribune,
Mr.. Pernot received consignment of
the variety "escargot Bordelaise,"
which is hcrbivorous, and the success
of his experiment has been phenome-
nal. The colony has increased so ra-
pidly that in the breeding season the
services of one man are required con-
stantly in the care of the thousands of
snails that crowd the confines of their
pens.
Snail raising is beset with few diff
culties. All that is needed Is small
inclosure in moist place, so protected
that the crawling gasteropod cannot
stray away with its shellhouse on its
back.
In the Los Angeles snailery the
pens are built under large windmill
tank, where water is plentiful. Several
long boxes, two feet wide and one and
a half feet in height, are arranged
about an open space, and the tops are
covered with wire netting fitted with
hinges. Inside the boxes are numer-
Gus lengths of drain tile, in and upon
which the snails cling in great num-
bers and in all stages of development.
The eggs Of the snail, tiny in size
and whitish-gray in color, are laid in
May or June, when large numbers OF
the creatures gather in sunny places.
When about to lay the snail burrows
into the damp soil, sheltered from the
suns rays, and deposits from 80 to so
eggs that look like small pills. Three
or four similar deposits are made and
abandoned in season.
Ordinarily, the young snail gnaws
its way out of the shell and to the sur
face within 90 or 80 days, but in
stances have been noted OF eggs that
have been dried and kept for many
years and then returned to moist
place, where they hatched in the usual
period.
The snails are lveliest in the early
morning. This is their feeding time,
and they come out in myriads to re-
ceive a shower bath from a garden
hose and to feast on the cabbage, let
tuce and grapvine leaves that compose
their diet. They are voracious eaters,
and when several thousand of them
are eating the noise they make with
their horny jaws and cartilaginous
tongue is not unlike the champing of
horse on its bit.
In their native haunts the snails are
great pests, resembling grasshoppers
in their destructivity, and instances
are cited where entire gardens Of cab
bages and strawberries have been de-
v,stofoI II, piuht