squirrels that are shot by hunters on his estate every year -- he serves them up to guests in a stew.

"They really are very tasty -- a cross between rabbit and chicken but more gamey,'' Lord Apsley of Cirencester told the Gloucester Echo newspaper in western England recently. "I put a couple of squirrels in a dish with carrots, onions and potatoes and slosh in some Guinness or whatever else is around.'' Guests who visit Apsley's estate are routinely offered squirrel stew by the nobleman.

The blue bloods told the newspaper: "They all think it is excellent.'' Nonetheless, the aristocrat did confess to one problem with squirrels -- skinning them.

`It can be a bit difficult,'' Lord Apsley explained. "You need a third hand.'' "It can be a bit difficult,'' Lord Apsley explained. "You need a third hand.'' Incidentally, any locals who might be interested in making their own stew can call with confidence on the always impressive meat department of the Miles Super Service Market in Pembroke.

The market will be able to provide shoppers with as much domesticated squirrel meat -- or, alternately, possum, which is similar in texture to squirrel -- as they want or require.

An order of squirrel would normally take a week to ten days to arrive on the island, Miles reported this week.

It would presumably already be skinned.

* * * The old maxim about not putting all your eggs in one basket may have particular significance to small-scale farmers -- and not just those raising chickens.

A new American handbook says diversity -- in everything from growing to marketing -- is one of the keys to financial success for farmer with just a few acres of vegetables or a small herd of livestock.

The 166-page "Small Farm Handbook,'' by the Small Farm Centre at the University of California at Davis, emphasises finding and growing crops for specialised markets like minorities or the health-conscious.

"Small-scale farmers,'' the handbook's introductions says, "provide most of the specialty products that so many of us have come to expect -- organic produce, unusual and heirloom varieties.

"Their greatest successes are in locating niche markets and developing new products to satisfy them.'' In addition to diversity, some of the other "keys to success'' that the handbook recommends include a sense of professional commitment, the development of necessary knowledge and skills and the location of a "good'' plot of land.'' * * * The failure this week of Europe's Internal Market Council to agree on rules for labelling genetically engineering foods puts a new spotlight on the concerns many EU politicians have about the fruits of modern biotechnology.

"It's a very emotional issue,'' a European Union official who has followed the negotiations between member states told the Associated Press. All of the countries that rejected the Council's compromise (Austria, Denmark, Germany, Greece and Sweden) wanted a stricter labelling of foods that have been genetically modified.

Carrying at total of 26 votes, they held just enough sway to form a blocking minority, thereby dashing hopes that the Council could break a year-long deadlock that has delayed adoption of a draft regulation on novel foods., The Council's failure to adopt a common position follows the decision by the European Parliament three months ago to reject another key biotechnology measure -- a draft directive on biotechnology inventions -- because of ethical concerns about patents for life forms.

the key question in the novel foods regulation is whether consumers should always be informed that a foodstuff has been genetically engineered or whether labels should be required only under certain conditions.

Those in the firs camp argue that consumers have a right to know their food was made using new production methods, whiles those in the second camp say that would unfairly stigmatise the foods in question.