380 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



more than a pint j and these are usually brought long distances 

 on the heads of women. It is said that these women, who carry 

 such heavy loads upon their heads, are principally from Wales, 

 and that many of them, for example, come into market twice a 

 day from Brentford, where great quantities of strawberries are 

 raised, and return ; and this is a distance of more than seven 

 miles, making at least thirty miles in a day. To such endurance 

 may even a woman s frame be trained. Many of the milk- 

 women in London, who carry their milk in large tin cans slung 

 from their shoulders, and containing from six to eight gallons 

 each, travel long distances in the course of the day. But the 

 most remarkable instance of strength and endurance is perhaps 

 to be found in the fish-women of Edinburgh, who attend the 

 market from New Haven and Musselboro . Their load, which is 

 in two baskets, one over the other, containing different kinds of 

 fish, slung upon their backs, often weighs 150 Ibs., and has been 

 known to weigh 200 Ibs. The distance from New Haven to 

 Edinburgh is more than two miles, and in this distance they stop 

 to rest but once only ; and after their arrival they are to be found 

 crying their fish in all parts of the town. How many of the 

 Chestnut Street, or Washington Street, or Broadway belles would 

 it require to lift even one of these loads from the ground ? Yet 

 these market and milk-women, and the fish-women of Edinburgh, 

 are perfect models of health and strength. The latter with their 

 elephantine arms and legs, their bright, clean caps, and fair com 

 plexions, their firm tread, and their stentorian lungs, with their 

 gay costume of various colors, and their five petticoats, so 

 arranged in different lengths that a portion of each may be dis 

 played are among the most picturesque, and not unpleasing, 

 objects of that beautiful city. 



The advantage of bringing the finer fruits to the market in 

 this way is. that they come in the best possible condition. 

 The wholesale business being completed, the growers of the 

 produce return home, and the marketing goes at once into the 

 hands of the shopmen and retail dealers, who are, in general, 

 residents in the city. 



2. FLOWERS. Having said so much of the vegetables and 

 fruits, I must not omit another article in Covent Garden Market, 

 of which the sale is immense, that is, flowers. In the winter 



