Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-03-15
HOW LONDON Is FED.

LONDON, March Slow London is fed
isaquery which can be pretty accurately
answered. but the exact weight Of food
the unparagoued giant actually devours
cannot be 50 correctly gauged. London
is fell by the world. England along is
not equal 10 the task. And no wonder
Think of this: the total length OF the
streets Of London would be more than
enough to link the metropolis through all
Europe and western Asia to the southern
extremity Of India. In this termless and
living line calls for her daily food pop
ulation Of 4. 769, 900, increasing at the rate
Of 5000 persons per annum. Ten rail-
way companies answer to that appeal.
which Is also responded to annually Dy a
feet OF about 5000 vessels coming up
from all parts.
But this does not exhaust all the
agencies through which provisions are
conveyed TO the capital, for not incOn-
siderable part arrives also by road. This
last system OF cOnYeyaY &c the results of
which no authority checks, and the I'M
controlled manner in which most articles
Of Authorization reach the consumers.
make IL very difficult To put in unas-
sallable figures the unparagOned giants
bill Of fare.
True there are a few central markets
where the great bulk Of provisions and
very nearly all the meat and fish gather,
but all eatables do not heap there, many
being consigned straight TO the retailers
or consumers. Moreover an enormous
quantity Of food is consigned to London
which is not consumed by the LOnGOners,
but is sent 10 the provinces.
Here must point out one Of the mystic
riOHs dOings Of the trade, which can only
De explained by the mOnOpOlizing bust
ness. The fish you buy at Dover or other
Sc aside towns, where It may have been
netted. costs YOU more than in London.
whittier il is dispatched as soon as
caught, and where the fishmOngers OF
Dover and Of the seaside towns have TO
get it. How the practical BritOn can
stand such an abuse is another question
which DO no Understand. and therefore
cannot explain. As we get on we will
come across a few other wonders.
Provincial butchers from at least the
nearest counties send also not I'M
frequently 20 London for their meat, and
so do, on a larger scale still, the country
retailers Of early foreign vegetables aud
fruit, aud OF foreign eggs aud butter.
Thue. between the food that comes to
London without being checked in any
way by the harbOr authorities. the market
superinteudents, or the railway com
panies. and the food taken out Of Lon
den, IL Is impossible TO know, except
approximately, what the LOndOners
consume.
There is. however, no doubt that this
unknown Il ure. whatever il is, Is a large
one I have more than once witnessed.
fer instance, the arrival Of the fish by
boats and bv railway vans at the celebra-
ted market Of Biliiugsgate, notorious also
for It's Glib grammar. II was appalling.
The porters wholly disappeared amOng
the heaps 81 them, and looked like miners
busy clearing a gallery. They We're using
buckets and sh0Velei the cOmpstioles as
u they had been mud. Round COvent
Garden Market at 4 80 in the morning
the market opens al 81 have seen tn
space 50 filed with colossal wagons.
gigantic vans. Cargantuan draws, ard
stuPendous wains that you could not see
me roofs Of the highest houses behind.
DO rot shake your heads skepucally
Wait.
Last year in Bilingsgate alone and lis
ReIghbOring streets over $4,000 tons OF
Ssh were landed. In much less time than
Il would take a lady TO fix herself for an
afternoon cali, have seen the contents
OF keiGs and fields NJ potatoes and cab
bages VnlCaded in COVent Garden. The
Monday before Chr stmas . l39 toms OF
beef, representing herd of about 6.jl9
0ullocks. were booked in the SmilhIieid
market, and on the following day,
Tuesday, / had a capital luncheon on
board the Elderslle, 4 steamship Just ar
owed from New Zealand with 25000
carcasses OF prime mutton. The day be-
fore Christmas | Was lOafing in the
Leadenhall market. an ungrudging ba-
zaaT, where, according to your fancy, YOU
can yet as little as dead lark or as much
as q living tiger. The place was SO
encountered with poultry, meat, game.
and other provisions that the difficulty OF
the buyers TO yet at the sellers was only
equaled by the impOssIbility OF the later
70 sally on the former. A Spanish ambas-
sadur once told Charles ii. that more
provisions were sold in that mart than
IN all spain. | bet that if the Queen
would kindly take the present Spanish
representative round the same place Her
Majesty would probably hear the same
speech.
The Englishman lives very we'll when
ne can. and always wastes. | speculate
that twice the actual population of Lon |
do " It were Dutch, would live here
luxuriously on what is hardly sufficient /
for its present inhabitants.
Long has England ceased to produce |
enough fool tor her children. In an !
average year, say 1888, the London cen /
iral markets sold Isl .O26 tons of English |
meat and as much as A., SS4 tons OF rJr- I
eign meat. 26, 100 tons of which were from I
tbe United States. Each year the proper |
tion of foreign meat landed here increases. |
the full official report for the year 1884 /
mas not been published, but | know that
Australia and New Il alaud have during
that year sent over mere no less than 6S6,-
80 csTcasses of mutton. The American
trade, which has been dull for little
while, is looking up again. and those IN
terested wilt no doubt hear with pleasure
that the private company, principally
composed Of statesmen having their stores
at SmIthfeld Market, which had built
49, nf.H. liz -Ffn ff.nE
ing OF all perIshable provisions, are con-
siderably extending them. These stores
can already take ia from 800 to 900 tons
of meat, and will soon he capable OF
sheltering double that quantity. Sales
men will therefore, be able TO keep the
meat as long as they can get remunera-
rive price tor IL, instead OF having 10
throw il away after a certain time re-
gardless OF loss. / have visited these
stores. Their temperature, kept down by
splendid Hazlam engines, was almost
Siberian. Ire charges for renting them
IS 21Id. per week for eight pounds which
is cEeap, and lower rates are granted for
larger quantities.
In one week only, the week ending Jan.
%. 1875. the United States and Canada
had landed "a 22o sacks OF -four in Lon
don. In the week ending Jan. -. 1885,
800 cwts. OF American cheese We're IN
shipped in the port of London, exclusive
Of consignment 10y rail. The American
cheese is IN great favor in this country
No eantankeTOus gourmet Is able now TO
saoint 10 the least difference between the
foreign article and the best English Ched-
dar and II is Just Sd. CHEAPER per pound.
Many London houses take nothing but
American cheese. Toe national product
il losing much ground. In one week
alone, in July last, Mr.. Lowell of the
great firm OF Lowell q Christmas, West
Smitbield, tells me that he has sold 100
American cheeses. He Kindly takes me
into his enormous cellars, which can
easily accommodate 10000 boxes of the
article and explains that he never
brochures any other.
To-day tue English farmer keeps hardly
one-ffth Of his cows milk for cheese. He
sells the greatest part Of the rest as milk,
reserving the smallest portion for butter.
English butter is scarce, dear, unequal
IN suaIity. and BADLY packed. The great
heuses OF London much prefer 70 buy
fresh French butter TO their national
product. They say that il is superior 70
il, never varies in quality, can always be
relied upon. and Is admirably packed.
ii. n