amounted to 1,948,369. Railways had by that time reached London, after which its population increased at nearly double the former ratio. In the ten years ending 1851, the increase was 413,867; and in the ten years ending 1861, 441,753; until now, to quote the words of the Registrar General in his last annual Report, "the population within the registration limits is by estimate 2,993,513; but beyond this central mass there is a ring of life growing rapidly, and extending along railway lines over a circle of fifteen miles from Charing Cross. The population within that circle, patrolled by the metropolitan police, is about 3,463,771 !"

The aggregation of so vast a number of persons within so com paratively limited an area- the immense quantity of food required for their daily sustenance, as well as of fuel, clothing, and other necessaries- would be attended with no small inconvenience and danger but for the facilities again provided by the railways. The provisioning of a garrison of even four thousand men is considered a formidable affair; how much more so the provisioning of nearly four millions of people!

The whole mystery is explained by the admirable organization of the railway service, and the regularity and dispatch with which it is conducted. We are enabled by the courtesy of the general managers of the London railways to bring together the following brief summary of facts relating to the food supply of London, which will probably be regarded by most readers as of a very remarkable character.

Generally speaking, the railways to the south of the Thames contribute comparatively little toward the feeding of London. They are, for the most part, passenger and residential lines, traversing a limited and not very fertile district bounded by the seacoast, and, excepting in fruit and vegetables, milk and hops, they probably carry more food from London than they bring to it. The principal supplies of grain, flour, potatoes, and fish are brought by railway from the eastern counties of England and

Scotland; and of cattle and sheep, beef and mutton, from the grazing counties of the west and northwest of Britain, as far as from the Highlands of Scotland, which, through the instrumentality of railways, have become part of the great grazing-grounds of the metropolis.

Take first "the staff of life"-bread and its constituents. Of wheat, not less than 222,080 quarters were brought into London by railway in 1867, besides what was brought by sea; of oats, 151,757 quarters; of barley, 70,282 quarters; of beans and peas, 51,448 quarters. Of the wheat and barley, by far the largest proportion was brought by the Great Eastern Railway, which delivered in London last year 155,000 quarters of wheat and 45,500 quarters of barley, besides 600,429 quarters more in the form of malt. The largest quantity of oats was brought by the Great Northern Railway, principally from the north of England and the east of Scotland-the quantity delivered by that company in 1867 having been 97,500 quarters, besides 24,664 quarters of wheat, 5560 quarters of barley, and 103,917 quarters of malt. Again, of 1,250,566 sacks of flour and meal delivered in London last year, the Great Eastern brought 654,000 sacks, the Great Northern 232,022 sacks, and the Great Western 136,312 sacks; the principal contribution of the London and Northwestern Railway toward the London bread-stores being 100,760 boxes of American flour, besides 24,300 sacks of English. The total quantity of malt delivered at the London railway stations in 1867 was thirteen hundred thousand sacks.

Next, as to flesh meat. Last year not fewer than 172,300 head of cattle were brought into London by railway, though this was considerably less than the number carried before the cattle plague, the Great Eastern Railway alone having carried 44,672 less than in 1864. But this loss has since been more than made up by the increased quantities of fresh beef, mutton, and other kinds of meat imported in lieu of the live animals. The principal supplies of cattle are brought, as we have said, by the west

ern, northern, and eastern lines: by the Great Western from the western counties and Ireland; by the London and Northwestern, the Midland, and the Great Northern, from the northern counties and from Scotland; and by the Great Eastern from the eastern counties, and from the ports of Harwich and Lowestoft.

Last year also, 1,147,609 sheep were brought to London by railway, of which the Great Eastern delivered not less than 265,371 head. The London and Northwestern and Great Northern between them brought 390,000 head from the northern English counties, with a large proportion from the Scotch Highlands; while the Great Western brought up 130,000 head from the Welsh mountains, and from the rich grazing districts of Wilts, Gloucester, Somerset, and Devon. Another important freight of the London and Northwestern Railway consists of pigs, of which they delivered 54,700 in London last year, principally Irish; while the Great Eastern brought up 27,500 of the same animal, partly foreign.

While the cattle plague has had the effect of greatly reducing the number of live-stock brought into London yearly, it has given a considerable impetus to the Fresh Meat traffic. Thus, in addition to the above large numbers of cattle and sheep delivered in London last year, the railways brought 76,175 tons of meat, which-taking the meat of an average beast at 800 lbs., and of an average sheep at 64 lbs.-would be equivalent to about 112,000 more cattle, and 1,267,500 more sheep. The Great Northern brought the largest quantity; next, the London and Northwestern-these two companies having brought up between them, from distances as remote as Aberdeen and Inverness, about 42,000 tons of fresh meat in 1867, at an average freight of about ad. a lb.

Again, as regards Fish, of which six tenths of the whole quantity consumed in London is now brought by rail. The Great Eastern and the Great Northern are by far the largest importers of this article, and justify their claim to be regarded as the great food lines of London. Of the 61,358 tons of fish brought by rail

way in 1867, not less than 24,500 tons were delivered by the former, and 22,000 tons, brought from much longer distances, by the latter company. The London and Northwestern brought about 6000 tons last year, the principal part of which was salmon from Scotland and Ireland. The Great Western also brought about 4000 tons, partly salmon, but the greater part mackerel from the southwest coast. During the mackerel season, as much as a hundred tons at a time are brought into the Paddington Station by express fish-train from Cornwall.

The Great Eastern and Great Northern Companies are also the principal carriers of turkeys, geese, fowls, and game, the quantity delivered in London last year by the former company having been 5042 tons. In Christmas week no fewer than 30,000 turkeys and geese were delivered at the Bishopsgate Station, besides about 300 tons of poultry, 10,000 barrels of beer, and immense quantities of fish, oysters, and other kinds of food. As much as 1600 tons of poultry and game were brought last year by the Southwestern Railway; 600 tons by the Great Northern Railway; and 130 tons of turkeys, geese, and fowls by the London, Chatham and Dover line, principally from France.

Of miscellaneous articles, the Great Northern and Midland each brought about 3000 tons of cheese, the Southwestern 2600 tons, and the London and Northwestern 10,034 cheeses in number; while the Southwestern and Brighton lines brought a splendid contribution to the London breakfast-table in the shape of 11,259 tons of French eggs; these two companies delivering between them an average of more than three millions of eggs a week all the year round! The same companies last year delivered in London 14,819 tons of butter, for the most part the produce of the farms of Normandy, the greater cleanness and neatness with which the Normandy butter is prepared for market rendering it a favorite both with dealers and consumers of late years compared with Irish butter. The London, Chatham and Dover Company also brought from Calais 96 tons of eggs.

Next, as to the potatoes, vegetables, and fruit brought by rail. Forty years since, the inhabitants of London relied for their supply of vegetables on the garden-grounds in the immediate neighborhood of the metropolis, and the consequence was that they were both very dear and limited in quantity. But railways, while they have extended the grazing-grounds of London as far as the Highlands, have at the same time extended the gardengrounds of London into all the adjoining counties-into East Kent, Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk, the vale of Gloucester, and even as far as Penzance in Cornwall. The London, Chatham and Dover, one of the youngest of our main lines, brought up from East Kent last year 5279 tons of potatoes, 1046 tons of vegetables, and 5386 tons of fruit, besides 542 tons of vegetables from France. The Southeastern brought 25,163 tons of the same produce. The Great Eastern. brought from the eastern counties 21,315 tons of potatoes, and 3596 tons of vegetables and fruit; while the Great Northern brought no less than 78,505 tons of potatoes—a large part of them from the east of Scotland -and 3768 tons of vegetables and fruit. About 6000 tons of early potatoes were last year brought from Cornwall, with about 5000 tons of brocoli, and the quantities are steadily increasing. "Truly London hath a large belly," said old Fuller two hundred years since. But how much more capacious is it now!

One of the most striking illustrations of the utility of railways in contributing to the supply of wholesome articles of food to the population of large cities is to be found in the rapid growth of the traffic in Milk. Readers of newspapers may remember the descriptions published some years since of the horrid dens in which London cows are penned, and of the odious compound sold by the name of milk, of which the least deleterious ingredient in it was supplied by the "cow with the iron tail." That state of affairs is now completely changed. What with the greatly improved state of the London dairies and the better quality of the milk supplied by them, together with the large