has a share of the profit attending these successive transfers of the animal from its birth to its final destination. The following is an estimate of the number of cattle arriving in one year at Smithfield from different districts at different seasons of the year:-" In February, March, and April, there arrived 16,000 Norfolks, nearly all stall-fed cattle; while from the North, including chiefly Leicester and Northampton, there came but 600. In May, June, and July, the Norfolk cattle had increased to 17,800, and those from the North had risen from 600 to 3675. In July, August, and September, the grass-fed cattle begin to pour in. The earliest are from the marshes of Essex, and therefore the beasts from the centre and midland districts rise to 5350, while those from Norfolk decrease to 850. Some Leicesters, however, soon become ripe, and quickly follow; long droves from Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire are not far behind; and the northern cattle, in the preceding quarter 3675, rise to 16,340. In October, November, and the early part of December, the grass-fed beasts still continue to occupy the market, and no less than 33,000 arrive from Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, &c.; while the supplies from the marshes and the midland counties are still partially kept up, and are calculated at 6,400, and the Norfolks at 2,380. The grass season is now past, and dependence begins to be placed on stall-feeding; and therefore, as we observed at the outset, the northern cattle suddenly fall to 600, and the Norfolks rise to 16,000.*

The grazier need never set foot in Smithfield. The country drovers collect the beasts and drive them up to London under consignment to a salesman: there are beast salesmen and sheep salesmen. The salesmen's drovers meet the cattle at the outskirts of London, and drive them into the market; and here it is the duty of the salesman to attend to the interests of the grazier, which he can always do better than the grazier himself. He is quick in detecting the state of the market, and how prices are likely to "rule;" he is acquainted with the butchers and dealers, and knows their customary demands; and under these circumstances he can obtain a better price than the owner of the cattle, whose experience is not sharpened by years of practice in the open market. The salesman disposes of the stock committed to his charge, his remuneration consisting of the moderate sum of 2s. 4d. for each beast. The purchase-money is immediately remitted into the country. To be saved from constant visits to Smithfield and attendance from Sunday night to Monday noon, to avoid the expenses of travelling and the interruption of ordinary pursuits, is a result of the division of employments on which the grazier must surely congratulate himself. When a beast is sold, he is committed to a third class of drovers,-namely, the butchers' drovers, and his course from the market to the dining-table is not delayed many days.

The consumption of butcher's meat is nowhere so great, both absolutely and in proportion to the population, as in London; but there are no means of estimating the total quantity very exactly with reference to the population supplied, the radius being so extensive and undefined, comprising places as far south as Croydon, and others equally distant on each side of the metropolis. The butchers at these places find that they can be more conveniently supplied from Smithfield, Newgate, or Leadenhall markets than from country markets in their own vicinity. The population which obtains a supply of butcher's meat from

Cattle.-Library of Useful Knowledge.

the three sources above mentioned amounts to 2,000,000, on the lowest estimation. Now, taking the number of cattle and sheep sold in Smithfield in 1839, with the number of pigs and calves from the average of a previous year, and averaging the dead weight of each, according to the judgment of an intelligent carcassbutcher of Warwick Lane, we shall find the gross amount of animal food which is furnished by the Smithfield market :—

Average weight. No. of lbs. consumed.

At the average price of 6d. per lb. the above quantity would amount to 6,847,0421.; at 7d. it would be 7,988,3407.; at 8d. it would produce 9,129,3901. This is exclusive of bacon and all salted provisions imported from Ireland and other parts. The quantity of killed meat sent to Newgate and Leadenhall markets cannot be ascertained, but it is very great; and though this trade is at its height in the winter months, yet during the greater part of the year the arrivals are very considerable, and are never entirely suspended. But dividing only the quantity derived from Smithfield amongst a population of 2,000,000, the consumption of each individual will average 1361bs. of meat in the year. The consumption of Paris is estimated at 80lbs. per annum for each person, and at Brussels the annual consumption of each head of the population is estimated at 891bs. The consumption of meat amongst the higher and middle classes is but little affected by price, a trifling increase or decrease, occasioning neither a diminished nor an extra demand; but, amongst the working classes, the very first pressure of a diminished income operates in reducing the consumption of From forming a portion of their daily diet, it is only consumed twice or thrice a week; and, lastly, when the pressure continues, even the Sunday dinner, which, to the working classes of London, is one of the greatest spurs to their industry—even this must be given up for more frugal fare. From some recent statistical inquiries in the manufacturing districts of the north, it has been found, on a comparison of a period of prosperity with one of stagnation and embarrassment, that the consumption of meat fell off one-fourth, and even one-half. The oxen, sheep and lambs, calves, and pigs slaughtered in the borough of Leeds, declined from 2450 in 1835-6, to 1800 in 1841; and in Rochdale the number of oxen killed weekly in 1836 was 180, while in 1841 only 65 or 70 were killed. These statements show how extensively the cattle-breeder, the grazier, the butcher, and all connected with these avocations, are dependent on the well-being of the great masses of the non-agricultural population.

meat.

Closely connected with the interests of Smithfield Market is the annual competition of fat cattle for the prizes awarded by the Smithfield Club. This club, which consists of noblemen and gentlemen of extensive landed possessions, was established at the close of the last century, when the improvement of the rural arts was looked upon as a patriotic duty. The annual show of the prize-cattle, sheep, pigs, &c., is one of the "sights" of London. For the last two or three

years the exhibition has taken place at the Horse Bazaar, King-street, Portmansquare, which, though not quite so eligible as could be wished, is superior to the former exhibition-yard in Aldersgate-street. The show always takes place in December, about a week or ten days before Christmas-day, and after the prizes have been adjudged the public are admitted, on payment of one shilling, during the remainder of the week. In December, 1841, there were exhibited fifty-seven oxen, nineteen cows, fifty-four sheep, and nineteen pigs, the animals of each species being the most perfect specimens of their kind which the united judgment and experience of breeders and graziers can produce. The Scotch oxen had, in some cases, been brought by steam-boats a distance exceeding five hundred miles; and in nearly every case the railways were made use of for the conveyance of both cattle and sheep from all parts of England. Formerly the animals were brought to London in vans, at a great expense, as the rate of travelling was necessarily slow.

The interest of the show is, as may be expected, chiefly confined to certain classes. On entering the place of exhibition the visitor at once perceives that the company consists chiefly of country gentlemen, cattle-breeders, graziers, cattle-salesmen, and butchers, with a sprinkling of townsmen, who have a relish, imbibed in early life, for country pursuits. But the sight is one of rational interest to any man. Here he sees the result of exertions, principally carried on during the last eighty years, to unite and bring to perfection the most desirable points in the various breeds of domestic animals which were once peculiar to different parts of Great Britain,

but are now spread, in their improved form, over every part of the country. In the gallery, a portion of which overlooks the show-yard, are to be seen agricultural implements and machinery of the latest and most improved construction; roots and plants adapted to our climate, but which are as yet comparatively unknown; samples of artificial manures; and specimens of the soil of districts differing from each other in their geological formation. In spite of all the advances which agriculture has made during the present century, how slowly do improvements extend beyond the intelligent circle in which they are first adopted! And it is one of the great advantages of institutions such as the Smithfield Club to spread them more rapidly and over a wider surface, by drawing the agriculturist from the secluded scenes amid which he carries on his occupations, and bringing them before him in the manner best calculated to demonstrate their utility.

The prize oxen or sheep which we see at this exhibition are fatter than is required for the ordinary market; and hence it is often supposed that the stimulus of prizes for bringing an animal into a state of unnecessary fatness is altogether a work of supererogation. But the power of reaching this point is simply a test, showing the capacity of the breed for acquiring, at the least expense of food and at the earliest age, such a useful marketable condition as the public demand requires. This course has been perfectly successful; and to show that it has been so, we need only advert to the period when improved breeds of cattle were less common than they are now. Culley, who was himself a great improver of cattle, and wrote a work on the subject at the commencement of the century, speaks of a kind of oxen which had not then become extinct, that were more like an ill-made black horse than an ox or a cow ;" and the flesh (for he says it did not deserve to be called beef) was " as black and coarse-grained as horse-flesh;" and yet such an animal was less profitable than an ox of the present improved breeds. After feeding on the best pastures for a whole summer, it was scarcely fatter or in better condition than at the commencement, as the food which it consumed went to the support of "offal." There were breeds of sheep which equally stood in need of improvement. But what is the case now? A sheep can be fattened for the market in two years, which formerly required three years, or even a longer period, the saving to the consumer from this cause alone being above thirty per cent.; and in cattle, the small-boned, true-proportioned animal of the improved breeds has in the same way been rendered above twenty-five per cent. more profitable. The meat thus obtained at a less expense of food, and in a shorter space of time, is far superior in quantity and quality to the carcass of the old breeds. When Davenant stated that the average weight of cattle sold in Smithfield was 370 lbs., and sheep and lambs, averaged together, only weighed 28 lbs., we can show, as will have been seen from a previous estimate, that the former average 640 lbs., while the average weight of the Teeswater sheep is 28 lbs. per quarter; of the Leicester, 22 lbs. per quarter; and of the Southdown, 18 lbs. per quarter. Culley states (and the work of improvement has been carried to a higher point, as well as very widely diffused, since his time) that the difference between the coarse and fine, or between the best and worst parts of beef, when cut up, was formerly not less than one hundred per cent. ; but in the improved breeds the quality of the coarse parts has been made very much better, and the

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quantity of bone is also diminished. These are no trifling advantages to the poorest class of consumers. In mutton, the difference between one part and another has also gradually become less and less. In this useful object of agricultural zeal the Smithfield Club has rendered great services; and the London butchers, who purchase the prize cattle and sheep as a means of enhancing the reputation of their shops, have equally promoted the same end; and by combination of purpose and competition between cattle-breeders, graziers, and others, the average standard of quality in meat has been raised to an extent which may be compared with the still more important step of converting a whole population into consumers of wheaten bread instead of that made from oats, barley, or other inferior grain. The cattle-breeder looks no farther for his reward than to the grazier; the grazier expects encouragement from the butcher; and the butcher calculates upon the support of a discerning public," who must in all cases either communicate the stimulus to improvement, or support it when once its career has commenced.

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There is a horse-market held in Smithfield on the afternoon of Fridays. It commences in the summer season at three in the afternoon, and closes at seven; and in winter is held from two o'clock until dusk. This market had much the same reputation in Shakspere's time, and most probably for centuries before, which it now bears. The number of horses is usually three hundred or four hundred, and from fifty to a hundred asses. Here low jockeys attempt to display their broken-down animals to the best advantage, and costermongers “chaffer” over the buying and selling of their asses; and scenes of drollery and coarse and boisterous mirth may be witnessed which at least illustrate low life in London. The inspector of police for Smithfield stated in 1828 that there was not "half the trouble with the people that sell the asses as with the dealers in horses." It is the horse-market which has the credit, according to the same testimony, of bringing together "all the rogues and thieves within ten miles of London ;" and he described it as the most abominable scene that can be imagined. "I had," he says, "rather be there ten Mondays than one Friday." It is not so bad now, being under better police regulation.

Smithfield is also one of the metropolitan hay and straw markets. This market is held on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. A payment of sixpence per load (unless the property of freemen), and a penny for each entry of sale, has produced above 400l. a-year. The supplies arrive from places within a circle of forty miles round London.

* Henry IV., Part 2, Act I., Scene 2.