146 AGRICULTURE OX THE RHINE. 



to the slaughter-house after that age the better for the 

 farmer. The luxurious calculations of our markets, in 

 which fat and quality of meat are distinguished by highly 

 remunerating prices, are unknown in Germany. And 

 here it will be well to say something about the butcher's 

 shop and his trade, as a matter of essential interest to the 

 agriculturist. 



Like the grain-farmer the stock-feeder finds his market 

 especially in the large towns. In the villages the pig, 

 slaughtered at home, and made up into hams, bacon, and 

 sausages of all flavours and sizes, meets him in every 

 house, and keeps down his price. What the pig may 

 have cost in milk, potatoes, and refuse, is often as little 

 calculated, as the price of the rye-bread that we have 

 shown is purchased at a great expense of labour. This 

 waste of labour in growing corn is, however, a still more 

 formidable diminisher of the butcher's gains than the 

 pig ; for it prevents the husbandman from earning in any 

 other manner, and he has consequently little to spend in 

 meat. The slaughtering of horned cattle in a village is 

 therefore a rare occurrence, and seldom takes place until 

 the larders of the better kind are ascertained to be 

 sufficiently emptied to ensure a ready demand for 

 meat. We must not, however, suppose the German 

 peasant to be ill-fed : his dish of potatoes is usually 

 savoured wnth a piece of bacon, and the same condiment 

 is introduced into the pancake— a favourite dish, and, 

 when so flavoured, digestible for those who work much 

 abroad, as peasants, male and female, often do. Sunday 

 brings meat, soup, and the grand family-dish, the un- 

 salted boiled beef, or '' rindfleisch;"' of which, as the 

 staple article of the slaughter-house, we must first speak. 



