CHAP. xiii. TRANSPORT OF CATTLE. 229 



miles, but it will be dangerous to extend it beyond that distance. Plenty 

 of time should be allowed for its completion ; for if the cattle are hurried 

 on the road, even although they do not exceed the number of miles just 

 mentioned, they will be distressed and off their feed, and the founda- 

 tion may be laid for serious disease. It is scarcely credible how 

 different will often be the state of droves that have performed their 

 journey in the same number of days. There will be a stone difference 

 in the weight of each beast, and double the value of that in the quality 

 of the meat. It is impossible to estimate the extent of the mischief 

 when cattle have been over-driven, and he who is acquainted with 

 them will be very cautious how he purchases animals having that 

 appearance. 



The principal objection to sending cattle alive in ships is that they 

 are necessarily confined in small spaces, and are liable to be bruised 

 and to lose condition. In the long ocean voyages, however, the arrange- 

 ments are well carried out, and it is surprising how little harm the cattle 

 suffer. But in rough weather it not uncommonly happens that they 

 have to be thrown overboard, to lighten the deck cargo, and the 

 writer has seen carcasses of fine animals floating on the billows of the 

 Atlantic. 



In railway trucks the cattle are sometimes bruised a good deal ; but 

 a great improvement in recent years has been effected, and now they 

 arrive as a rule in good condition, and fit for slaughter at once. 

 Probably the following words, which appeared in the twelfth Edition of 

 this work, had something to do with the improvement, and we leave 

 them again on record : 



" At the same time it should be remembered that every day the 

 evils connected with the transport of cattle by railway are increasing. 

 Grave fault, indeed, is to be found with railway management in this 

 respect. Cattle are put into dirty trucks containing the dung, perhaps, of 

 diseased animals which have been previously carried ; they are knocked 

 grievously about during the process of ' shunting,' which takes place 

 very frequently during a long journey, and which process is most 

 carelessly performed. The cattle are exposed in the open trucks, at 

 sidings and stations, and subjected as well to the horrors of thirst and 

 hunger as to cold and wet. On principles of humanity as well as 

 business policy, a change of all this is imperatively demanded. We are 

 glad to see the agricultural public becoming daily more alive to the 

 importance of railway managers carrying out a more humane and more 

 economical system of cattle transport." 



The cattle and sheep having reached; the metropolis are consigned 

 to a salesman for disposal. He is a middle-man between the farmer 

 and the butcher, who disposes of the cattle to the best advantage, and 

 at a moderate charge. He has to pay to the banker and money- 

 taker certain dues. 



Mr. Hilly ard, who used for some years to sell his own stall-fed 

 beasts in Smithfield, thus speaks of the salesman : " The amount 

 of the graziers' or stall-feeders' profit much depends on the salesmen 

 they employ. Theirs is an office of great trust and confidence ; and, 



