SMITHFIELD, LONDON. 313 



In the year 1842, 



Of cattle, 175,347 



Of sheep, 1,468,960 



The supplies since that have not diminished. But this by no 

 means comprehends the whole supply of provision to London, 

 as immense amounts of slaughtered meat are brought constantly 

 to the dead market, from distant parts of the kingdom, by the 

 innumerable steam conveyances, which have so much increased 

 the facilities of access to the metropolis. We need scarcely be 

 surprised at any distance from which it may be brought, since I 

 have seen Leicester or Southdown mutton, killed and dressed in 

 England, for sale in the market at Boston. In spite of the 

 doctrines of restricted or free trade, the benevolent mind cannot 

 help rejoicing in a facility of intercourse, which renders the 

 mutual interchange of the respective advantages and blessings 

 of different countries and climates so convenient, and thus does 

 away forever with all that fear of want or famine which, in 

 former times, so often followed any extraordinary contingency 

 of the seasons. The quantity of meat, and that principally 

 mutton, brought from six different ports in Scotland to London, 

 was ascertained, in one case, to be about 2364 tons in six months ; 

 besides a very large amount of live stock. It has probably 

 greatly increased with the opening of every new means of 

 conveyance. 



The friend to whom I am indebted for much of the above 

 information, in regard to Smithneld, states the average weekly 

 sale of beasts in Smithneld at about 3000, and of sheep, about 

 30,000 j of calves, about 300 ; of pigs, about 500. At the dead 

 market, about 3000 sheep are sold weekly. Of the live stock, the 

 beasts average from 15 to 18 per head, and sheep 30 shillings. 

 A pound in this case may be most conveniently reckoned at five 

 dollars, and a shilling, therefore, at a quarter of a dollar. The 

 average age of beasts sold in Smithfield is from two to three 

 years, and of sheep from fifteen months to two years. It is 

 not to be supposed that these returns by any means embrace all 

 the beasts slaughtered, or the meat consumed in the metropolis 

 and its vicinity ; for great numbers are sold before they reach 

 the market, and are therefore not reported. Vast amounts, like 

 wise, are imported from Ireland j and the cotters of this fertile 

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