340 



TIic CoJintry Gentleman s Llagadne 



and without cutting them up — which cutting 

 up is, as we have seen, so productive of the 

 very evil which we are so anxious to avoid — 

 brings them to the surface, and leaves them 

 lying there; while, on the other hand, the 

 action of the plough is such as to cut up and 

 divide the couch, multiplying its roots, and 

 also turn them over and place them in the 

 position best calculated to enable them to 

 reproduce themselves. At the same time, we 

 must not overlook the advantages of the use 

 of the plough in autumn culture, in conjunc- 

 tion with the grubber, in getting rid of the 

 annual weeds. These, after the soil has been 

 brought to a fairish tilth by the action of 

 the grubber, will, if in abundance, be found 

 to spread over the surface; now, if the plough 



is sent in, these will be turned over and 

 destroyed. In this case the plough should 

 be made to take as deep a furrow as possible, 

 so as to expose the largest surface of soil to 

 the atmospheric influences during the autumn 

 and Avinter months. A good plan Avill be 

 found to be that of an eminent farmer, in 

 whose practice there is much to admire and 

 to follow, in which the stubbles are broken 

 up by the grubber by steam-power, and 

 finished off for winter in ridges (27 inches) 

 with the double mould-board or breast-plough, 

 and drawn by horses. All that is necessary 

 to be done with this plan in spring is twice 

 harrowing the ridged land, and thereafter 

 putting in the crop. 



THE VICTORY OF THE MARROW-BONE AND CLEAVER?' 



A .SYSTEM of opposition, as selfish and perverse as 

 any which this year has witnessed — and that is 

 sayingmuch — ^has succeeded in defeating, orat least post- 

 poning, the bill for establishing a separate market for 

 foreign cattle. Once more a well-organized corporate 

 interest — to wit, the London butcliers — aided by a 

 railway and dock company, and though last, not 

 least, by the Hebrew salesmen and jobbers who, 

 whether as usurers, dealers in old clothes, or cattle 

 jobbers, seem destined to avenge all the Avrongs of 

 their race, have gained a victory, not only over the 

 farmer and provincial grazier, but over all the con- 

 sumers of meat within the metropolitan area, whether 

 rich or poor. If the Premier had taken the bill in 

 liand from the first, it is fair to suppose that it would 

 not have hung fire at the last moment by reason 

 of the breakdown in financial arrangements. The 

 members who are supposed to represent the 

 butchers' interests have exhibited more dexterity 

 and perseverance than foresight or honesty. That the 

 parties concerned in the opposition have acted seve- 

 rally in their own interests is but in accordance with 

 human nature ; still, this is not a circumstance which 

 demands any special consideration in dealing with it. 

 For the sake of some few of the electors of the City of 

 London or the To^\•er Hamlets, it seems hardly worth 

 while to hazard the meat supply of the whole country ; 

 and to enable butchers to continue to fleece their cus- 

 tomers is a poor reason for a line of conduct which has 

 undoubtedly jeopardized a good many votes for the 



Abridged from the Satnrdny RcvitrM. 



Liberal party. Even compact bodies of enraged 

 butchers, armed with the weapons of their trade, 

 would not perhaps be able to imperil the future return 

 of Mr Goschen, or even of Mr Ayrton ; but the 

 farmers, who justly feel themselves aggrieved, and the 

 Aberdeen and Norfolk graziers will not improbably 

 influence the elections favourably for the Conservative 

 party. The opponents of the bill may or may not 

 like to give more for butcher's meat than would be 

 either asked or obtained if the monopoly were broken 

 up ; but though they loudly and persistently declared 

 that a new and separate market M-ould raise prices, 

 they carefully abstained from giving any reason 

 for their statement. If they had said candidly 

 and exactly what they thought, it would pro- 

 bably have been something of this kind : — 

 " We know that any change, or any measure, 

 however irrelevant to the matter, will be seized upon 

 by the butchers as a reason for asking a penny or two- 

 pence more per lb. A good hai-vest or a bad harvest, 

 a large root crop or a deficiency in turnips, dry weather 

 or wet weather, the cattle plague come or the cattle 

 plague gone, a large supply or a short supply of beasts 

 — any and all of these causes have ser\-ed as an excuse, 

 and Avill do so again, and a separate market would be 

 gravely assigned as an unanswerable argument why 

 we should pay more for English beef and mutton fronr 

 Islington." And the butchers would try this plan un- 

 doubtedly ; but the essential merit of the measurejust 

 withdra\\n was that it would have rendered this arti- 

 ficial bolstering up of prices almost impossible for 

 any length of time. 



