When a sale
When a sale was effected the buyer paid the price to the banker, and the salesman was responsible to the grazier or country dealer for the due fulfilment of the various transactions. The banker usually charged about d. per head of cattle, and per head of sheep, as commission for his trouble. One of the bankers has been known to take ,Z. in respect of the livestock sold in a single morning.During the palmy days of old Smithfield, when steamers and railways contributed little towards the supply, the great northern road was the main artery of arrival; and the lairs at Islington formed a temporary resting place for the animals. Monster Beats The great stream that passed through St. John's street during the night was amazing, comprising thousands, or it might be tens of thousands, of fine wellfattened animals. But the old scenes are gone; Beats Headphones the rail and the paddle interfered with them; and the curtain dropped when the market was wholly removed.Before the era of railways, farmers living at a distance of fifteen to thirty miles from London were accustomed to send their fatted calves to Smithfield by a salesman, who kept horses and covered spring vans for the purpose. Each salesman had a tract of countrywhich he frequented, and in which he was well known. His van called twice a week at the farmhouses on his route to market, to take up the fatted stock. On the next day he sold the stock at Smithfield early in the morning; and in the evening he repassed homeward, leaving the proceeds of the respective sales at the farms of his employers, enclosed in a printed market bill, with the name of the purchaser, and the amount as stated by the clerk of the market. The commission for the salesman's purchases depended in part on the distance and in part on the value of the animal.What vast numbers for such a small area! Even with the utmost enlargement of Smithfield, the number of animals that could be accommodated at one time was not more than cattle and , sheep. When, therefore, five, six, or seven thousand cattle were present, the crushing and crowding were amply accounted for. There were rails for less than oxen; the rest had to stand in rings, wherever they could. Monster Headphones
