696 CATTLE AND DAIRY FARMING. 



Messrs. Flinn, Main & Montgomery, the managing directors of the Mississippi and 

 Dominion Steamship Company (Limited), ot'Harvcy Building, 24 James street, Liverpool, 

 state that the rate of freight averages from four to live pounds per head, which includes 

 the cost of the stalls and fittings used on the steamer and the supply of Iresh water 

 during the voyage. Fodder and attendance are provided by the shipper, and an attendant 

 is allowed free for every 25 cattle. As to cost of maintenance during the voyage, Messrs. 

 Flinn, Main & Co. are unable to give any certain information. The loss from mortality 

 by this company's vessels is very slight. Out of 1,343 head of prize breeding stock car- 

 ried to Quebec during the summer of 18S3, only 4 died, and during the winter months 

 they have been carried with equal success. 



The stalls are placed on the main- steerage decks. Their average size is, for a single 

 horse, 8 feet by 4 feet, such stalls being always padded. Cattle stalls are constructed 

 so that each shall hold two animals, and their size is usually 8 feet by about 5 feet G 

 inches. These are the ordinary sizes, but special arrangements can be made to have 

 the stalls arranged for any particular lot, as shippers may desire. For shipping by this 

 company's line, or in fact by most of the Atlantic lines, the Alexandria dock station of 

 the London and Northwestern Railway Company is the most convenient, and cattle 

 should be sent forward the day previous to the ship's sailing date. 



NOTE. For convenience, wherever pounds, shillings, and pence occur the pounds may 

 be reckoned at $5, the shillings at 25 cents, and the pence at 2 cents. 



BRITISH CATTLE MARKETS.* 



REPORT BY CONSUL RYDER, OF COPENHAGEN. 



The attention of the Royal Agricultural Society of Denmark having frequently been 

 called by many of the district members to the great want felt by the agricultural classes 

 for full and trustworthy information on this subject, it was determined by that society 

 in the course of last year to send over a duly qualified expert to examine closely into 

 the workings of the English markets, as well as into the general, requirements of the 

 trade, and the results of this official's investigation have now been made public for the 

 benefit and guidance of the agricultural community. 



In furtherance of the objects in view two market places in London, two in Newcastle, 

 and one in Edinburgh and Glasgow were visited, and it is remarked in the outset with 

 much truth that in order to obtain a proper insight and become fully acquainted with 

 the systems of these markets, to which are forwarded a large number of cattle of consid- 

 erable money value from this country, it was first of all felt to be of primary importance 

 to seek for full information regarding the different classes of customers at these markets 

 and the demands made by them, as constituting one of the essential points of investiga- 

 tion. 



At Newcastle the markets were found to be held on Mondays and Tuesdays of each 

 week, on the first day the market being held in the cattle stalls; on the second in the 

 open market place. On the Monday the buyers were traders from distant places, viz, 

 from Manchester, York, Leeds, from the borders of Scotland, and even from London. 

 From Manchester, which has a cattle trade of equal importance as London, come the 

 largest number of buyers; wholesale dealers who purchase in large lots, never less than 

 a railway-wagon load, and, as a general rule, nearly half the cattle is bought up for that 

 trade center. Though Manchester, from its adjacent position to Liverpool, the chief re- 

 ceiving port of the United States imports, this market of Newcastle is always greatly 

 influenced according to the extent of the American imports. On the Tuesday, on the 

 other hand, the market is generally attended by the local butchers, as also by the butch- 

 ers from the neighboring towns in this thickly populated district. Tuesday may thus 

 be regarded as a day of retail trade, inasmuch as each butcher only buys a couple or at 

 most from six to eight head; but on this day there is generally a very brisk trade, a large 

 number of beasts are disposed of. Finally, there is a third class of buyers, but these 

 are more uncertain in their dealings, namely, the traders from London, so-called cayo 

 butchers, who look out for the large and coarser kinds of animals, to sell these again to 

 the great sausage manufacturers. 



In comparison with Newcastle the London market ranks poorly in regard to the num- 

 bers of customers for the Danish cattle. The chief buyers in this market are the wholesale 

 butchers from the western part of the city, the Whitechapel butchers, who buy up a fair 

 amount of these cattle, one individual taking at times from one hundred to one hundred 

 and twenty head in the week. These purchase the inferior, large-horned animals, but 

 at the same time require them to be of a perfectly sound condition. They purchase 



*Republished from Consular Keporta No. 53. 



