THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



391 



cow beef, as such, at a lower rate than ox beef. But 

 they have found a means of evading the law in both 

 respects so efFoctually, tliat althougli it is notorious 

 that a vast proportion of cows — generally old and past 

 working and milking — are slaughtered in Paris, Jio cow 

 beef is ever to be seen upon the stalls; and on the other 

 hand, no beef of the fourth or most inferior class, and 

 very little of the third class, is exhibited for sale. The 

 just inference therefore is, that both the cow beef and 

 that of the inferior classes of meat are transferred and 

 merge into the first and second classes, to the extra 

 profit of the butcher, and injury of the public. 



To these evils of the present system must be added 

 the enormous quantity of dead meat (la viande a 

 la main), generally diseased, slaughtered clandestinely 

 beyond the barrier, and brought into Paris. This in 

 1846 amounted to 4,300,000 kilos. ; but in 1856 it 

 rose to 17,1 Jl, 000 kilos., or nearly 50,000 head of 

 cattle. We admit that our London market is liable to 

 the same species of imposition, and that large quantities 

 of diseased meat are clandestinely brought thither for 

 sale. The supervision, however, of the officers appoint- 

 ed by the City, to prevent its sale, have no temptation 

 to forego their duty, on account of the free competition 

 which exists, and that renders it dangerous and 

 difficult, without detection, to offer such meat for 

 public sale. The consequence is, that we continually 

 read, in the public journals, of butchers being fined for 

 this offence ; and the proportion, therefore, sold to the 

 public, is small compared with the general consump- 

 tion. 



The first and most palpable result of this system is, 

 that the entire consumption of beef in Paris, which is 

 but the type of all the large cities of France, is reduced 

 to about 87 pounds per head per annum, whilst that 

 of London amounts to about 104 pounds; the meat 

 of the latter being almost wholly good wholesome ox 

 beef, whilst that of the former consists of a large pro- 

 portion of diseased and cow beef and veal, the cows 

 being usually both milked and worked until they are 

 past use for either. In the above statement, no account 

 is taken of the sheep and pigs slaughtered in London, 

 which would add at least from 38 to 40 pounds per 

 head per annum to the general consumption. 



But a more serious consequence of this system of 

 the butchery of Paris is not generally appreciated, 

 because it lies iu the back-gTound of the picture. 

 This is the effect upon the general health and longevity 

 of the population. By a comparative view of this 

 question, as relating to Paris and London, it appears 

 from official documents, that whilst in the latter city 

 the mortality is gradually decreasing, in the former 

 it is as steadily increasing. Thus, in London, 

 the average proportion of deaths in ten years 

 (from 1846 to 1855) has been 25 per thousand ; and in 

 1856 it was only 22 per thousand. But in Paris, the 

 average from 1831 to 1840 was 26 ; from 1841 to 1850, 

 28i ; and from 1851 to 18.55, 31 1- per thousand ! and 

 this deci ease in the duration of life is ascribed by the 

 writer to the diminution in the consumption of animal 

 food, the result of the present system. 



Surely, if anything will open the eyes of the present 

 astute ruler of France to the evils of the system pur- 

 sued in Paris, it is a statement like the one we have 

 given. We believe he has the welfare of the French 

 nation at heart, and the cities of France, especially 

 Paris, have engaged his anxious attention. How it is 

 that he has adopted the present fatal system wo cannot 

 tell ; but with the abundant evidence before him of its 

 disastrous working, both upon the producers and the 

 consumers of meat, we cannot believe that he will long 

 suffer it to continue. The evils are too palpable to be 



overlooked, and the proofs of them too strong to be 

 refuted. Both demand the immediate and serious 

 attention of the French Government. The high price 

 of meat alone, is enough to show that a change is 

 necessary, both on account of the prosperity and the 

 health of the population. 



We have now before us a work devoted to the 

 subject, * which estimates the general consumption of 

 meat for all Franco at 7 kilos, (or 15^ lbs ) per head. 

 In Paris the proportion of neat cattle f.laughtered is 

 stated to be 78,000 oxen, 18,000 cows, and 74,000 

 calves. For all France, in 1340, the estimated numbers 

 were 492,000 oxen, 718,000 cows, and 2,478,400 

 calves; the latter being nearly the double in number 

 of the two former. The reason ascribed for this 

 destruction of animal food at the very source, is the 

 extreme poverty of the farmers, which compels them 

 to convert their produce into money us quickly as pos- 

 sible. We leai'u that the same system is still pur- 

 sued, and the consequence is that few calves are 

 reared, and the production of meat is continually 

 declining, whilst the price of meat advances, 

 and the consumption proportionally diminishes. 

 The author also accounts for the inferior quality of the 

 cattle sent to Paris by referring to the state of the law. 

 " Under the system of a tax per head the butcher 

 purchased by preference the finest cattle, finding it to 

 his interest to do so in spite of their high price rela- 

 tively as live meat. Now, on the contrary, his interest 

 compels him to purchase only animals of the second or 

 third quality. He pays the tax on the weight, and 

 receives no advantage from the form or strength of the 

 animal he purchases. On the other hand, the tax 

 being imiform, as he finds in an ox of 500 kilos, as 

 many pieces of each class as in an ox of 300, and as he 

 cunnot sell the meat proceeding from the first at one 

 single centime more than that of the second, he has an 

 evident interest in purchasing only animals of inferior 

 quality, which cost him less alive, and afford him a 

 better profit. He neglects, therefore, beasts of superior 

 quality, or does not offer a price for them adequate to 

 what they cost ; which tends to discourage the breed- 

 ing of finer races, and lowers the quality of the meat 

 consumed on the great market of Paris. Under this 

 regulation the consumption of cows continually in- 

 creases, to the decline of that of oxen; and the mean 

 weight of the latter, as well as their mean value, as 

 continually diminishes." 



Such is the state of butcher's law in Paris; and 

 its effects upon the most important branch of good 

 husbandry in general, and upon the health of the in- 

 habitants of Paris in particular. Efforts are making 

 to induce the agriculturists to adopt a better system ; 

 but until the law is altered or abolislied altogether, it is 

 impossible that any beneficial change can take place. 



In the meanwhile France will become an importer 

 instead of an exporter of cattle; for it is impossible 

 under the present system either to improve the breeds 

 generally, or to prevent decline in the production of 

 cattle. All writers on tlie agriculture of France agree 

 on this subject, as well as that the farmers of France 

 are more disposed to invest their savings in fresh pur- 

 chases of land, or in railway arid other public stock, 

 than in the imjirovement either of the soil or of the 

 breeds of cattle. There are undoubtedly exceptions to 

 this, but it certainly applies to the largo body of far- 

 mers in that country, and is the bane of its agricultural 

 prosperity. 



* " Questioa des Subsistaaces — solutiou, le paiu ^ soixante 

 centimes les deux kilogrammes ;" &c. 



Z2 



