Click on your browser's back arrow to
return to the "Articles" page.
The below article appeared in The Penny
Magazine for February 25, 1843. The article was retyped. The image
appeared on page 65 above the text.
Pound sterling had a symbol after several
monetary numbers that looked like this: "
l"
That symbol was replaced with a modern pound sterling symbol: "₤."
However, in modern times, the symbol would appear BEFORE the monetary
amount, not after.
Cattle-Drovers
The industry required in producing the
common food of the people, although simple and often rude in its nature,
involves extensive and varied arrangements, and a division of
employments nearly as striking as the complicated processes which excite
so much admiration in manufactures. How varied are the contrasts between
the different classes engaged in raising food and those who are employed
in producing clothing and shelter, and yet the humblest services in each
of these departments of industry are indispensable and invaluable. The
subject of the cut leads us more immediately to the consideration of one
of the useful occupations connected with the supply of animal food. The
number of cattle in Great Britain is estimated at eight millions and
their value, at 10₤ per head, amounts to the large sum of eighty
millions sterling. One-fifth of the above-mentioned number of 1,600,000,
is annually consigned to the butcher. His are the last, except those of
the cook, of a long chain of operations. London requires a supply of
about 160,000 head of cattle annually, and by far the larger proportion
are reared in the northern part of the island, though they are fattened
in the south. The rich lands are more profitably employed than in
supplying food to young beasts which are hardy enough to thrive on the
coarse grasses of uncultivated wastes. Hence, as the most profitable
distribution of the soil, lean cattle are the riches of a country which
is not adapted to cultivation; but when required for the butcher, then
the produce of the best soils may be advantageously employed in
fattening them. In the districts where they are reared, the rent of the
land is paid out of the profits of the live stock, for they are the
chief wealth of the tenant, but in those where they are fattened rent is
derived from a greater variety of sources, and the manure obtained from
stall-feeding constitutes no inconsiderable proportion of the profit,
for without this restorative the soil would soon become less productive.
No plan therefore is so advantageous or economical as that under which
the uncultivated lands are devoted to the rearing, and the richer soils
to the fattening of stock. On their road from Scotland to the midland,
eastern, and southern counties of England the services of a particular
class of men is a distribution of labour equally convenient. The farmer
of Norfolk need not leave his farm on a distant journey to the north,
but purchases lean stock at the fairs in his own neighbourhood, to which
the cattle are driven by those who make it their sole business. In the
'Survey of Dumbartonshire' there is an account of the progress of the
cattle on their journey:—"The cattle bred in the West Highlands are, at
the age of two years, or two years and a half, removed into
Dumbartonshire and the neighbouring counties. At three years old they
are carried to the northern counties of England, and so by degrees
southward, enjoying at each remove a milder climate and a richer pasture
than before, till they attain their full size, and reach the butcher in
prime condition." The pastures on which they are supported before they
commence their journey to the south are very coarse, and only cattle
which have never known better fare can pick up a living upon them. After
feeding here during the winter, they are sold in April or May, and it is
evident that if they have simply not deteriorated during the severe
season, they will, when that is over and there is the near prospect of
abundant food from the summer pastures, fetch a higher price than was
given for them before the winter with its possible scarcity. During
summer they get into better condition, and are purchased by buyers from
districts where turnips are cultivated, on which root and hay they are
fed in the second winter. In spring they perhaps reach the rich pastures
of Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, or the marshes of Essex, and are put
upon them for the early grass, on which they soon become fat. For
stall-feeding, they are bought lean at the great autumn fairs and
fattened during the winter. The prices vary in different years, but the
proportions remain much the same, and the small Scotch cattle usually
average per head, at fifteen months, 3₤. to 4₤.; at two years, 6₤. or
7₤.; at three or three and a half, 10₤. or 12₤. upwards. Every hand
through which they pass derives a profit, as advantageous to the public
interest as it is to his own.
The great trysts or fairs in Scotland for
the sale of cattle exhibit the wealth of pastoral districts to great
advantage. Those held at Falkirk are the largest, from its central
situation, both for the breeders in the north and west of Scotland, and
for the buyers for the English market. Every variety of cattle bred in
Scotland, including those from the Western Islands and the Hebrides, are
to be found at the Falkirk trysts, which are held on different days in
the months of August, September, and October, the last being the
largest, as the breeders must then dispose of all the stock which they
do not intend to keep through the winter. At the October tryst there
have been 50,000 cattle, 30,000 sheep and 3,000 horses on sale; and the
number sold at the three together is about 80,000 cattle, 50,000 sheep,
and 5,000 horses, which fetch an aggregate sum of 650,000₤., averaging
the cattle at 7₤. each, the sheep at 18s., and the horses at 10₤. Some
of the cattle are in good store condition, others are almost ready for
the butcher, but the greater proportion are lean, and are purchased to
be fattened in the south. Cattle-dealing partakes a good deal of
excitement of gambling, as the profits may be largely increased by the
state of the markets, the supply of fodder, and many unforeseen
contingencies; and they are enhanced also by adroitness and aptness in
making bargains. A man who spends his whole life in attending fairs is,
therefore, a character sui generis; but he has none of the low
trickery of the horse-dealer.
From the great Scotch trysts the cattle are
sent off to the south in droves of from two to three hundred, under the
charge of a person called a 'topsman.' The following account of the
further progress of the animals is from the treatise on 'Cattle,' in the
"Library of Useful Knowledge:'—"The topsman generally goes before, to
see that grass is secured at proper stations, and to make all necessary
arrangements. He has under him other drovers, in the proportion of one
to about thirty cattle. The journey to Norfolk occupies about three
weeks. The expense in summer and autumn is from 1₤. to 1₤. 4s. per head;
and in winter, when they are fed with hay, they cost 10s. or 15s. per
head additional. The cattle are purchased and paid for by the drovers
sometimes in cash, but more generally a part of the price is paid in
bills, and sometimes the whole of it. In some instances where the farmer
has confidence in the drover, he consents that the purchase-money shall
be remitted from Norwich, or that the money shall be paid when the
jobber returns home. The business is hazardous, and now and then
unfortunate; but the drover considers himself well paid, if, every
expense of the journey being discharged, he clears from 2s. 6d. to 5s.
per head; and when he has either money or credit sufficient to take a
drove of 600 or 1,000 head of cattle to the market, that is a good
remunerating price." The drovers are said to be a respectable and
deserving class of men. They are very different from the class who drive
the cattle into Smithfield market from the outskirts of London, where
they meet another class, the country drovers; but neither the one nor
the other are anything more than mere drivers of the cattle to
market. The 'drover,' properly so called, requires either capital or
credit. |
|
