THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



69 



It anticipated, indeed, in a great degree, the olyections 

 and suggestions oiFcrcd. 



The very able and unusually lengthy paper read by 

 Mr. Bond at the Farmers' Club, occupied more than 

 an hour in reading. Another long evening was spent 

 at the Society of Arts over Mr. Halliett's Essay on 

 Steam Cultivation. Surely, by another year the Agri- 

 cultural Committee of that august body may have 

 weight enough to alter the time of meeting to an 

 open day. 



Might wo add one word more, and express a hope 

 that the official prize-list may yet be amended. A 

 highly-commended cow in one of the classes was thought 

 by many to be superior to the second prize. Now 



every paper will give all due honour to the second 

 prize ; but scarcely one will name the highly com- 

 mended, simply because she is not named by the Club- 

 In a somewhat confused state, at the end of tlie list 

 come a lot of commendations — that is, " Highly 

 commended, 45;" "Commended, 41" — which not 

 one man in a thousand will care to unravel. It 

 must not be supposed that our list is a mere cojjy of 

 that issued by the Club. We have taken the trouble to 

 discover and to identify what "45" is, and what "41." 

 Generally excellent as are the management and ar- 

 rangements of the meeting, wo are the more em- 

 boldened to press this point upon the attention of those 

 in authority. 



THE CONSUMPTION OF BUTCHERS' MEAT IN LONDON. 



The return of the annual Christmas meeting of the 

 Smithfield Club Cattle Show, with its prime selection 

 of fatted animals, naturally enough brings forth with it 

 suggestions of the aggregate consumption of butchers' 

 meat in the metropolis. It may, therefore, be useful 

 and interesting to connect with the records of prizes 

 and descriptions of superior animals exhibited, the pro- 

 portion of food they furnish to the millions, and the 

 statistical details of supply and consumption. Unfor- 

 tunately our details are not very complete for any such 

 estimate, because the dead-meat sales have been trench- 

 ing so largely of late years upon the live stock sales, 

 that we are much at fault for authentic data for com- 

 putation. While we have complete returns for a long 

 series of years of the sales of beasts and live stock gene- 

 nerally in the metropolitan markets, there are no 

 returns to guide us as to tlie quantity of dead meat sent 

 to London and sold in Newgate, Leadenhall, and other 

 markets. 



It cannot fail, however, to be remarked that the sale 

 of cattle and sheep unslaughtered have by no means 

 kept pace with the in?rease of population and wealth in 

 the metropolis, and with the consequent necessary de- 

 mand for meat. Let us examine this matter in a sta- 

 tistical point of view, and compare the figures at decen- 

 nial periods. 



Firstly, then, how has the metropolitan population 

 progressed ? It stands as follows : — 



We assume the population of London at the present 

 time to be fully two millions and three-quarters, for the 

 Registrar-General estimates it will reach 3,000,000 

 before 1863. 



Now, what are, next, the returns of cattle sold in the 

 metropolitan market, at the corresponding periods, to 



Here, then, we have the remarkable fact that the 

 sale of live cattle has only doubled in the period under 

 review, while the sheep have scarcely increased at all, 

 and have kept almost stationary in the last sixteen 

 years. And yet we know that the condition of the mass 

 of the people, from the highest to the lowest chisses, 

 has greatly improved in the thirty or forty years under 

 review. It is therefore self-evident that the dead meat 

 must form a much larger proportion of the business 

 than it formerly did ; and it would be interesting if we 

 could arrive at a correct estimate of the quantity 

 brought to London by the different railways. 



Among the fluctuations of other large articles of food- 

 consumption it is remarkable to find how uniform and 

 steady the supply and sale of live cattle are in the metro- 

 polis. The annual sale of sheep has stood, with com- 

 paratively slight variation, at 1,400,000 for the past 

 twenty years. The cattle sales stood at about 170,000 

 to 180,000 from 1835 to 1844; but since that period 

 have gradually crept up to 221,000 m 1847, and 

 272,000 head for the last three years. 



There is no doubt the weight of the animals has much 

 increased of late years as compared with the first period 

 of our inquiry. In 1830 the average dead weight of the 

 bullock was about 656 lbs., of the calf 144 lbs., of the 

 sheep and lamb 90 lbs., and of the pig 96 lbs., nearly 

 double the weight of those animals at the close of the 

 last century. But now we might take, if not as an 

 average, at least as fair and ordinary samples, the bul- 

 lock at 900 lbs., the calf at 150 lbs., the sheep at 90 lbs., 

 the lamb at 45 lbs., and the pig at 160 lbs. 



