Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1902-10-12

I and baskets piled h!Sil on ier coaIitsis'
She seems TO he ladling out pints OF gray
marbles. and she has wooden sRewers CT
hits os meat lying beside her. Those
skewcrs arc filled with frog legs. which
soil fo:. a few cents per dozen. and which
/ can assure you taste as sweet as spring
chicken, IL properly cooked. Those marbles
arc snails which the French esteem es
pccfally delicious. They sell for cents
psnt. Tho large white snails in the
!! boxes cost moro. They are the best OF
their kind and are worth mere than ter
rapin OF portcrhouse steak
Sec. here is a Frenchn,an buying some
now. lie picks up a couple and looks them
carefully over and then orders hundred
The woman skoops the crawling, shiny
things out in her hand and counts them
She wraps them in paper and her custo-
aer takes them and goes away smilinS
THE SNAIL FARMS OF FRANCE.
Paris eats almost 100000 pounds of these
snails every year. paying So or 81 thou-
sand for them. They are found in the
southern yine-growing district, and espe-
cially about Marseilles. IN some places
there are small farms or parks where the
little things are bred and fed for the mar
ket They are propagated in the months
of August. September. and October at
which time they are fed with cabbaSes
and clover. 1t said that wagon load Q.
cabbage given after the rains is enough
to furnish one meal for 100000 snails Inc
cultivated snailS are kept in the houses
during the winter. They are then fattened
and shipped off to Paris for sale IN the
summer There is one snail farmer IN the
department of the Jura. who raises l,eW'-
600 to 2,Ooo000 snails every year.
/ am told that more than 100000 pounds
Of snails are shipped every year from
70 ,l,, Tni. tod States SuCh Sll3lIS
bring abou, IS per 1000, at wholesale. They
are usually shipped alive in November
and December and must be very carefully
handled in order to stand the voyage with
out injury ! understand that some snalls
come from Switzerland to Paris and that
Switzerland is one OF the great snail mar
kcts of the world 1t has its snail eS-
porters and snail farmers. who know just
when 10 gather the snails. how to handle
their eggs and how to feed them so that
they will have the luscious fairness so
greatly desired by the French. So far l
have not eaten snails myself. and am,
therefore unable TO describe the taste.
THE PARIS MOUSE TRAP
Paris has been described as q gigantic
mouse trap with three doors labelled, re-
spcctivcly. hotel, cafe. restaurant The
city has about 10000 hotels: there are res
taurants in every block, and YOU can find
cafes at almost every step. At almost any
restaurant you are sure of good cooking
You can eat well anywhere and at any
price There are scores of places where
the meals cost as high as in the better
restaurants of New York, and hundreds
where you can get 4, fair dinner for SO
cents, or if you would have wine, for 10
cents additional. I have had good dinners
with wines for so cents, and there is a
restaurant where / lunch occasionally at
this price, which gives me what would
cost three times as much in the United
States.
There is one stock company which does
an enormous business in supplying cheap
and good food for Parisians. 1t was found
ed by butcher who has his butcher
shops still in different parts of the city.
This company has, venture, 100 or more
restaurants, where you can always be sure
of good service and good food. You pay
for what you eat ana pay for everything,
but the prices are low.
DINNER FOR THREE FRANCS.
Take, for instance a lunch which I had
to-day at one of these establishments
Upon entering, the book-keepcr at the door
gave me slip Of paper on which was to
be recorded the charges for the food or
dered I took this with me to the table
and handed it to the waitress, sweet
faced Frenchwoman who looked like a
sister of charity in her white cap and
black gown. I was next handed bill OF
fare The variety upon it was as large as
that of the menu Of one of the best New
York restaurants, the price OF each dish
being marked in plain figures. AT the top
was a charge Of two cents for the nap
bins and of cents for bread. and below
this the soups. / ordered bullion with
bread in it for cents, and followed with
some sole delicously cooked. After this
had a 14-cent steak with fried potatoes.
which would have cost me GO cents at the
restaurant I usually patronize in New
York. and I ended up with a dessert Of
strawberries, a froarlgc de Ia Suisse, and
a cup Of black coffee. | had bottle OF