The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-09-20


 creature. In France and Switzerland or sGe other hand, though the annual
 production" h Rpproximated at 2,50o,- 900 pounds, the supply iB SO inadequate as to bring forward services of the aduiter&toG, who has been known to fi!l ia tho amply shells with pieces of tAe lungs of cattle and horses. This statement Ia eloquent testimony of the demand that exists Cor .his curious dish universally loved by epicures, We may at this juncture add that the excellence os the Eouthdown and Dartmouth nut. ton !S aScrlbed in some degree to the nutrttivs qualities of the snails, which flourish on limestone lands and which the sheep cannot help devouring owing ltc .hb shortness of the grass,
 From tho epicurean@ point of view there are, not unnaturally perhaps, snaiis and snailA Those of Burgundy are samsd Gcs their exquisite flavor ant del!caoy. Nowadays, however, sthat district contr:butsE out 5 very small 'proport!on to the worlds output, the principal reason being because of the treatment of the vines with phosphates. The department of Jura is the centre of Iof the industry, and Bases Apes and Cote dor and Provence follow next in order. The variety held in highest es- teem by connoisseurs is the large white kind, those of the gray hue coming se- cond best; and it is very interesting to observe the snail gatherers in the dew of the early morning pick up the slimy | creatures off the ground which is liter- | ally covered with them, and pack them | into receptacles. When first brought in | they are placed inside specially con- structed buckets and there they remain | without food for about week. They arc subsequently placed in a mixture of vinegar and water, and sometimes salt and water, for about twelve hours, to be removed at intervals for clean ing purposes They are now ready for the cook, who, with the aid of innumer- able other good things, contrives to concoct the dishes so dear to the heart of the Frenchman. It may incidentally be noted that escargot designates the large and more luscious variety; Him. ace and limacon denoting the other varieties, which, though smaller and without such an exquisite flavor yet are in demand,
 Some of the large farms of Jura pro- duce an enormous quantity of snails The cultivated species are usually gathered in April, May or June, when they are consigned to the towns in per Iforated cases, while those which are Iartifcially reared are gathered in Au- lgust, September and October. Fields lare given over to the creatures exclu- sively, who laugh and grow fat as il were, on clover, cabbages and other Inourishing greens, It may be remarked that if properly prepared with a paste or sauce of garlic, fine butter, etc, they are succulent enough, but, of course one must for the time being, at any rate, endeavor to forget the slime from which they cannot be dissociated
 In Switzerland the people who orig
 mated the dish were the monks and it is significant that snails were
 first tasted during famine times, Late
 on they bought large quantities iron
 the inhabitants of the Rhine Valley and as the taste grew on them' thel came to consider the dish q delicacy
 With the exception of one or two es
 tabnshments, however, the industr! has not assumed any importance il that country. The fields which ar
 given up to the propagation of tn
 snails in Switzerland usually lie at tn edge of wood, sheltered from tn
 sun. The soil Is well lined and sand
 ed. and round the land is built wall
 perhaps two feet high, the inside an'
 top of which are washed with vitrio
 to prevent the stock from escapinl
 When 1t Is said that a plot about tw
 souare yards is sufficient to accommo date a thousand snails one can prett
 well judge the capacity of larg
 farm. They are collected about the be
 ginning of August after they hay Ilaid their eggs, which In some of tn larger species are as large as peas land then placed in a special tielc where in wet weather only, for the are torpid when 1t is dry, they fatte
 on nettles, bran, eabbages and fiel hemp.
 An extraordinary feature about tn
 snail Is that 1t has thousands of teetl These are arranged in 135 travers rows on the tongue, and as there ar
 as many as 1O5 in each row It follow
 they have an aggregate of 14,175. An yet another peculiarly about them the she'll At the approach of winte or in dry weather they close the mout of this with membrane formed b the drying of some mucous substanc
 they are able to create Boxed up
 this manner, they remain until nor satisfactory conditions prevail, Lon