HISTORY OP COMMERCE. 



NATURAL JIISTOUY OK o>MMKKCE. 

 CHAPl'EB V. (co- 



THE JNITKI) KINiiDOM: OREAT BRITAIN RAW PRODUCE, 

 MINKHAL, VKUKTABLK, A.N1MA .(I). 



Aipuuil iintl Vegetable Produoa of Grout Britain Population Affrioal- 

 tural Statistic*. 



I luimal Produce : Dom ,iia,l* of Qreatll 



I forms. Hunting and racing an- national sports 

 English racer, improved with the best Arab blood, ha- 

 a type of tho highest equine development. York- 

 :nid Northamptonshire draught or drav i 

 ^ueli as used hy tho London brewers, are pecrl 

 size and strength. Tho Suffolk Punch for ploughing, 

 nd tho old Lincolnshire cart-horse, have long been 

 M; i i lie-lit. Tho twelve sable steeds used to draw the 

 ite car at tho funeral of the Duke of Wellington were 

 part of the trade stud of a distiller. The powerful 

 rs for our cavalry ; carriage horses, whose pawing 

 rrcsts our admiration ; and the eight royal creams, 

 occasional labour is said to cost 1,000 an hour 

 ch, arc all distinct breeds and specially broken in for 

 leir duty. The Welsh pony is small but notable; and 

 the extreme in point of size stands the shaggy Shet- 

 ider, peculiar to its island home. 



Cattle. Not only our horses, but our domestic cattle 

 are among the finest in tho world, although fewer than 

 are Deeded for consumption. The Devonshire oxen, .nid 

 the breeds of Gloucester, Hereford, and Sussex are as 

 famous for muscular power as they are for fattening. 

 Comely cows and finely-proportioned steers are the 

 pride of English estates, and breeders compete for 

 honour as well as for profit. The animals of the greatest 

 bulk are those of Lincoln and Tweedside. The latter 

 are of historical note, for during the long period of 

 border warfare the lifting of cattle and the levying of 

 black mail were not merely incidents, but frequent in- 

 centives, of quarrel. In our days, Scotch kine are 

 transported to the rich southern pastures to fatten for 

 market. Dairy produce must not be undervalued, for 

 milk is consumed by young and old, and its secondary 

 products, butter and cheese, enter more largely into the 

 constituents of tho food of every family than any sub- 

 stance except bread. Tho localities most favoured for 

 dairy produce are referred to below. 



p- Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Sussex, Wiltshire, and 

 the Cheviots have given names to famous breeds of 

 sheep, and, taking into account the fleece as well as the 

 flesh, none are equal to ours. By skilful crossing, the 

 maximum of meat and wool of the best quality has been 

 combined in the same animal. 



Swine. Berkshire, Gloucestershire, and Sussex have 

 given names to breeds of pigs. The fame of Wiltshire 

 Bacon, York hams, and Berwick pork suggests a wide- 

 spread attention to these animals. Indeed, any British 

 farm would hardly be complete without a well-filled sty 

 or hog-pen. Turned into the woods in autumn, swine 

 will feed greedily upon acorns, beech mast, chestnuts, 

 and other dry inclehiscent fruits, without browsing upon 

 young trees and destroying them. 



Poultry. Amongst the minor produce of tho farm, 

 poultry stands highest, and the common domestic fowl 

 first. Turkeys and geese, at certain seasons, are fattened 

 and brought to market in enormous numbers, providing 

 us with an important supply of food. 



U'/V(Z Animals. The wild animals of Great Britain do 

 not differ from those of Europe, and require but a brief 

 reference. The bear, wolf, boar, fox, and wild ox once 

 dwelt in our forests, and tho beaver built on our river- 

 banks. All but tho fox and the ox have long since been 

 extirpated. Wild oxen, unique types of our domestic 

 breeds, are preserved with exclusive care in the spacious 

 parks of Chartley, in Derbyshire, and Chillingham, the 



101 N.E. 



eat of Earl Tankerville, in Northumberland. They an 

 i .-MM tho common ox, cream-white in colour, 

 wit It the exception of the ears, which are red, and toe 

 iini/./.le, which irt blut-k. 1'urmitted to range at will 

 through HpaciotiH parks, they retain many of the wild 

 of tip-,,- in!,,.. Tho fox has received the doubtful 

 nnvilcge of being preserved for the chase. On th<; 

 borders of Cornwall a few stags are still found in 

 their natural state, and more exist in tho mountains and 

 the wooded jwirtH of Scotland, especially in the forest 

 of At hoi. The roebuck, which seeks the hills only, 

 is also occasionally met with there. The fallow-deer 

 of our parks are of foreign introduction, but havi 

 so well to the climate that the French imperial parks 

 have been stocked from England. By a severe system 

 of preserving (a relic of ancient forest laws), hares, 

 partridges. ; . and in tho north red grouse, con- 



tinue abundant, despite the progress of agriculture and 

 the extension of towns. Water-fowl frequent the fens, 

 the most numerous beinp varieties of the wild duck, and 

 sea-birds make the northern clifls their home. The 

 rivers of Britain contain fresh-water fish, the delight of 

 anglers, but little regarded as a source of food, except 

 the salmon. The Wetland and the Witham are so alive 

 at times with the tiny stickleback, that farmers use 

 them by the bushel for manure. 



II. Vegetable Produce: Food Substances for Man and 

 Animals. 



Of the substances grown for the food of man, corn 

 stands first; and of the different kinds, wheat is so 

 important that it nearly reaches in value all others. 

 Reading, Guildford, and Uxbridge are the local markets 

 for the finest white wheats, produced in the fertile fields 

 forming the basin of the Thames, and London for th* 

 like wheat from the south-eastern counties. The soil 

 between the estuaries of the Wash and the Than 

 equally renowned for the growth of red whea: 

 of inferior value but greater yield. Wheat does no*t 

 ripen further north than the line of lochs running from 

 Loch Linnhe to the Moray and Dornoch firths. Next 

 to corn, green vegetables form the chief supply of food 

 for all classes of people, the great towns being girdled 

 with productive market-gardens. 



Food crops for animals form an essential part of the 

 industry of tho husbandman, and consist of both grasses 

 and roots. The grass, the oats, and hay of England are 

 matchless. A few weeks' feed in the alluvial marshes of 

 the Thames restores imported foreign cattle from the 

 effects of the roughest voyage, covers them with flesh, 

 and fits them for tho shambles. Tho root crops are either 

 "ed off upon the open field or are stored for winter food. 



Fruits. Of fruit-trees the species are not many, but 

 ;he varieties are numerous. At the head of these is the 

 apple, cultivated as a wholesome article of food, as a 

 dessert fruit, and for cider. This fruit abounds in every 

 jart of the kingdom, but the Arviiorican region of the 

 vest and south-west of England is the cider district. 



The pear is only next in value to the apple, flourishing 

 under similar conditions of climate and soil, and furnish- 

 ng a beverage called perry, chiefly made in Worcester- 

 shire. 



Our orchards and gardens are enriched still further 

 with drupes, or fruits of the almond tribe, as the plum, 

 the apricot, and the cherry. The produce of the garden 

 also includes gooseberries, currants, strawberries, and 

 other small fruits, culinary vegetables, and sweet herbs. 

 Some of these were brought from Holland in the reign of 

 Elenry VII. The cherry is said to have been brought 

 "rom the East. Tho indigenous fruits arc very few, 

 imited, probably, to the crab apple, the sloe, the bramble 

 he gooseberry, and the raspberry. 



Timber. England has always been famed for her 

 r orests, which neither the enormons demand for ship and 



