92 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



is paid to thcbroedingof DurhamsandHerefords, And under that wagon is a live pig, tied by 

 but native Americans are most in favor for the! one ^^^^^ looking as if he might have a year's ex- 



,^^'', . .11 1 .1 . 1 . , ! perience with about two montlis growth, designed 



Perhaps it will lie said the men who write thus ^ . ,. , , ,, ^ u i i. x- 



,. ,17' xr w • 1 1 i. Til iior immediate slaug-hter, or to be kept a tew 



are oi the Aninv-i\o/ hnit/ order ; but if they are,- b ' i 



I think they are in a ftiir way to be of the ma- months longer, as the purchaser may think proper. 



jority. So say those of my acquaintance whose 'A half-dozen living calves, of a few weeks' age, 



judgment is most wortliy of confidenci 

 Please oblige your readers by giving 



place in A'our Yankee Journal. 

 Jan. 15, 1855. 



this a 



For the Neiv Ens^land Farmer. 



LETTER FROM MR. FRENCH. 



A GLANCK AT WA-SIIINGTON CITY MAllKKT. 

 The principal market of the city of Washing- 

 ton is upon Pennsylvania Avenue. The buildings 

 consist of a large extent of low one-story brick 

 and wooden white-washed structures, of no par- 

 ticular order of architecture, which, were it not 



are lying, tied neck and heels, gasping for breath, 

 on the hard pavement, and not far off as many 

 cows, of all colors and shapes, for sale. Most of 

 them are poor in flesh, though with marks of 

 good qualities as milkers. Turkeys are sold, not 

 by the pound, as with us, but at so much apiece, 

 at prices not very different from those of Boston. 

 I find good practice for all the knowledge of frac- 

 ions which I derived from the arithmetic in my 

 school-days. On my inquiring the price of po- 

 tatoes, I received the edifying reply, " three fips 

 for a quarter of a peck." A fip being six and a 

 quarter cents, you have the basis for a calcula- 

 tion how much potatoes Avere sold at per bushel. 



disrespectful, might be described as sheds better 

 than by any other words. These are divided into [That, however, was the highest retail price, the 

 stalls, and are rented to the market-men. Butjprice by the bushel being from one and a half to 

 the sales are by no means confined to these build- 

 ings. All around, on, and about the adjacent 

 sidewalks and squares, on market mornings, three 

 times a week usually, is a throng of sellers, prin- 



two dollars. 



I was quite shocked to see, exposed for sale, 

 like vulgar ducks and geese, beautiful swans, 

 killed for food ! Heretofore, I had regarded these 



cipally blacks, in ludicrous variety of appearance stately creatures as intended solely to gratify our 



and employment. Backed against the curb-stone 



are long rows of market carts and wagons, of all 



conceivable shapes. Here is a tolerable looking 



horse-cart, with a mule attached, having his 



mane sheared and his tale also, except a tuft of 



hair at the end, to gratify the freakish taste of 



his negro driver. There is a market wagon, of j at the north. It is made of white corn, merely 



large size, with three or four hoops bent over it, [cracked and hulled, and boiled soft, and forms 



and a large cotton covering, to shelter the half- 1 the best substitute for potatoes. It is eaten with 



dozen darkies who have come into the city in it, | meat, like the common garden vegetables with us. 



.md who are now pursuing their separate duties 'No yellow corn is used here for food, and little or 



love for the beautiful ; but alas ! this utilitarian 

 age pays little homage to that beauty which is 

 not at the same time profitalile. x\ common and 

 excellent cheap article of food is exposed in 

 abundance, cooked ready for the table, which 

 they call hominy, and which ought to be used 



>f selling little commodities about the market. 

 Many of these wagons, loaded with grain, vege- 

 tables, poultry and other eatables, come to their 

 places during tlie night, or previous evening, so 

 IS to get good stands, which are apjjropriated by 

 :he first comer. 



Squatting down upon the pavement, on all 

 iides, are numerous old colored women, with 

 .ittlc stores of fruit, eggs and the like, advertising 

 cheir wares by word of moutli to the passers-by. 

 There are three or fbur singular-looking animals, 

 bearing some resemblance to small pigs, which a 

 small nigger introduces to your notice by the 

 question, "Have a possum, massa ? " There 

 again is an old lady, who has bunches of the 

 smallest kind of little birds, of tin; size of robins, 

 dressed ready to cook ; and there another, with a 

 coop of small live chickens, not of much larger 

 size, which are sold at sbmc twenty-five cents 

 each, to bd forthwith served up at the hotels for 

 daintv nxorsels of food. 



no rye and Indian bread, such as is common with 

 us. The market is abundantly supplied with 

 game of all kinds, ducks, venison, quails and the 

 like, and with finer mutton than is often found 

 in Boston. Prices of provisions and every thing 

 are arranged upon the principle that every office- 

 holder shall spend his salary, more or less. Pub- 

 lic opinion seems to demand this, and houses are 

 constructed to meet this idea. There is no such 

 thing as a cellar under one house in a hundred, 

 so that provisions cannot be laid in for a winter, 

 as with us, but the market-basket must go down 

 three or four times a week, for a half peck of 

 potatoes and a dozen apples, and a cabbage and 

 three or four turnijw, and so on, requiring as 

 much time as the whole would be worth in our 

 northern villages. Most of the pork sold here is 

 of small size, of pigs weighing al)Out a hundred 

 pounds. Aside from the lard and middlings, 

 animals of this size make much better food than 

 the full-grown, over-fatted hogs of the northern 



