90 AN AGRICULTURAL FAGGOT. 



Utopian altogether, but it certainly possesses fascination. 

 One would say that combinations, of producers on the 

 one hand and of consumers on the other, contracting 

 on either side for the sale and purchase of produce, 

 formed an almost ideal method of dealing with the 

 " middleman " question. Whether such an ideal is 

 realisable is another matter. 



That the present methods of distributing English farm 

 produce are to a large extent careless, clumsy, and costly 

 is self-evident. The case of the meat trade in London 

 may be cited in proof. The 4,000,000 inhabitants of 

 the metropolis are supplied with meat through three 

 main channels viz. : the Islington Cattle Market, the 

 Deptford foreign animals wharf, and the Central Meat 

 Market. The supply in 1891 was as follows : 



Islington Cattle Market. 



No. 



Home supply : Cattle 107,188 



Sheep 

 Pigs 



Foreign : Cattle 

 Sheep 



7 2 7.37 

 6,176 



14,222 

 48,960 



840,734 



63,182 



903,916 



Central Meat Market. 



Cwt. 



Country-killed meat 1 a . . . 2,345,960 



Town-killed meat 2 .... 1,333,320 



General foreign-killed meat 2 . . 501,140 



American-killed fresh meat . . 1,162,560 

 Australian- and New Zealand -killed fresh 



meat . . . >.'.,' ... , 813,720 



6,156,700 



We may put aside the Deptford supply, as this would 

 lead to considerations outside the scope of this article. 



1 This includes meat, poultry, and provisions. 



2 The weight of American cattle slaughtered at Deptford is 

 included in town-killed, and the weight of those slaughtered at 

 Liverpool in country -killed. 



