No. 



Paschall Morris's Corn Crop. 



143 



In the year 1842, 



Of cattle, 

 Of sheep, 



175,347 

 1,468,960 



The supplies since that have not dimin- 

 ished. But this b}' no means comprcliends 

 the whole supply of provision to London, as 

 immense amounts of siaughtcred meal are 

 brought con-tantly to the dead market, from 

 distant parts of the kingdom, by the innu 

 mcrable 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 advan- 

 tages 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 contingenc}' of the sea- 

 sons. Tlie quantity of meat, and that prin- 

 cipally 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 

 Smithfield, states the average weekly sale 

 of beasts in Smithfield at about 3000, and of 

 sheep, about 30,0(X); 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 

 £1S per head, and sheep 30 shillings. A 

 pound in this case may be rriost conveniently 

 reckoned at five dollars, and a shilling, there- 

 fore, 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 sup' 

 posed that these returns by any means em- 

 brace 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, likewise, are imported from 

 Ireland; and the cotters of this fertile but 

 wretched country, where a large portion of 

 the inhabitants are, for a considerable part 

 of the year, upon the borders of starvation, 

 are obliged to see their only pig — the com- 

 panion and pet of their children — and their 



only calf or steer, sent off to other markets 

 to fill other mouths. Smithfield, though 

 much the largest, is only one of the markets 

 of the country; but the immense supplies 

 which are iiere furnished must give some 

 idea of the improvement and degree of per- 

 fection of the agriculture of a country from 

 which they are drawn. 



The poultry markets, and the markets for 

 game, are also most extensive. The fish 

 markets in London seem to me unsurpassed 

 for their excellence, and certainly embrace 

 a great variety of the very best kinds. These, 

 of course, furnish their full proportion of the 

 supplies of London. 



Mr. Morris's Corn Crop. 



Mr. Cabinet, — That is a thundering crop 

 of corn of Mr. Morris's — see page 115, of 

 your last No. If it were not for the respect- 

 ability of the names attached, I should be 

 inclined to suspect its correctness I must 

 confess, without, however, meaning to call 

 in question any one's veracity. It may also 

 be suggested, that the mode of measurement 

 is not precisely what might be wished ; never- 

 theless when all is said, there remains proof 

 sufficient to speak volumes in praise of the 

 land, its management, and the plough, which 

 I am pleased to find the owner has the "mag- 

 nanimity" to permit to come in for a share 

 of the merit. I had expected to find that 

 the land had been turned in the autumn, and 

 am inclined to believe if it had, the average 

 of the field would have equalled its greatest 

 yield "in some parts;" so strong an advocate 

 am I for fall or autumnal ploughing, when 

 properly executed. But this can never be 

 done by the cutting or the Concave ploughs, 

 which lay their furrows too close and flat for 

 winter fallow; for as the rains cannot pene- 

 trate the earth, but must therefore pass off 

 by the surface, washing and carrying away 

 its finer particles at every flood, and leaving 

 the soil flat and hard in the spring, quite un- 

 fit for seeding without another ploughing, 

 which is sure to let up the weeds by tens of 

 thousands, to cope with the crop from the 

 time of its germinating, the most ruinous 

 effects are sure to follow, and are the cause 

 of the very general disuse of fall ploughing. 

 Not so, however, after the Centre-draught 

 plough has pulverized the furrow-slice to 

 the depth it is turned, and thrown it up high 

 and dry, filling the furrow with broken earth, 

 upon which the next furrow-slice is deposited 

 and kept from falling flat on the bottom of 

 the furrow, there to stick, and operate on 

 the principle of capillary attraction, by draw- 

 ing and retaining moisture from the subsoil 



