14.' YORKSHIRE. an 



zing grounds could not have been fully 

 (locked , nor the markets well fupplied. 

 There is not, generally fpeaking, any aged 

 cattle left in this kingdom. 



There can be only two reafons of this 

 fcarcity : either the CONSUMPTION OF BEEF 

 muft have lately intreafed, or the REARING 

 <OF CATTLE muft have diminijhed -, or the effect 

 muft have been produced by the joint opera- 

 tion of the two caufes. 



I vvifh to bring the matter to a rational 

 iffue; and have endeavoured to colledt evi- 

 dences in the Diftricts I have vilited. This 

 Diftrict affords two, which appear to be ad- 

 mifiible. 



Twenty or thirty years ago, there was not, 

 for the fmaller markets of this Diftrict, a 

 fingle bead killed (except upon fome extra- 

 ordinary occafion) during the winter, fpring, 

 or fummer months. In autumn, particu- 

 larly in the month of November, confidera- 

 ble numbers were butchered, to be faked and 

 hung for winter provifion ; hung-beef being 

 formerly a ftanding difh, not only in this, 

 but in other Diftricts *. But the number 



* HANGING BEEF. Formerly, before the cultiva- 

 tion of turneps, c. as winter food of cattle ; and be- 

 ? * fore 



