1846.] European Jlgncultvre. 247 



sowing, horses for farm service, young stock for grazing, and cows 

 for dairy use. 



" With the exception of three or four of our large towns, — as 

 Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, — we have no established 

 cattle market in the country; and markets such as Brighton near 

 Boston, and the Bull's Head near Albany, are almost exclu- 

 sively for the sale of fat cattle, sheep, and swine. Our farmers 

 sell, as they can, to agents or purchasers travelling through the 

 country, and buy as they can, and where, by chance, after taking, 

 in many cases, long and expensive journeys, they may find the 

 stock which they need. In frequent cases, stock, both cattle and 

 swine, are driven through the country and sold to those who wish 

 to purchase as accident may direct. A wool fair or market, is 

 not to my knowledge, held in this country; nor a corn or grain 

 market.* In the purchase of wool, agents scour the the country, 

 and in general the farmers are quite at their mercy. In respect 

 to grain, the fai'mer carries his wheat, or other grain, to the mill- 

 er, or the trader, and must make the best bargain that he can. In 

 such case, in the first place, there is no competition; and no pos- 

 sibility of calculating the quantities on hand for sale; and no 

 mode of fixing any general or equal price ; and, indeed, no cer- 

 tanity to the farmer of finding any market at all. These evils 

 might be remedied, and a change effected, to the great advantage 

 of buyers and sellers, by the adoption of a system of weekly or pe- 

 riodical markets, wdiich prevails through England and Scotland. 

 Here are wool fairs, for the sale of wool, ofwhich samples are ex- 

 hibited; and corn and grain markets, wheat, barley, oats, rye, 

 beans, and peas, samples of which are exhibited, are sold; and 

 markets for the sale of fat cattle, and markets for the sale of lean 

 cattle, and markets for the sale of horses, and markets for the sale 

 of sheep and lambs, and markets for the sale of cheese and butter; 

 these markets sometimes uniting several objects, or otherwise lim- 

 ited to some single object." 



" The great market for cattle, in England, perhaps the greatest 

 in the world, is at Smithfield, in London. This market is prin- 

 cipally for fat cattle and sheep, and for cows. It is held weekly, 

 in the centre, and in one of the most crowded parts, of this great 

 metropolis. Monday is the day of general sale for fat cattle and 

 sheep; Tuesday for hay and straw; Thursday is again a day of 

 sale for hay and straw; and Friday for cattle, sheep, swine, and 



* Howard Street, in Baltimore, affords the only place in the United States 

 re«emblin? an exclusive market for the sale of grain or flour; and this is on- 

 ly attended by individual purchasers, and is not a meeting of farmers, grain 

 dealers and millers, coming together on particular days in the week, and at 

 a particular hour in the day, to exhibit samples, to collect and impart infor- 

 mation respecting the graiti prospects of the year, to discuss prices, and to 

 afford to all parties the advantages of comparison and competition. 



