ship. She
gives them breathing-room in a dozen civic parks, the largest of which
both Nature and Art destine to be the noblest popular pleasure-ground of
the civilized world, as it is the amplest of all save the Bois de
Boulogne. Central Park covers an area of 843 acres, and, though only in
the fifth year of its existence, already contains twelve miles of
beautifully planned and scientifically constructed carriage-road, seven
miles of similar bridle-path, four sub-ways for the passage of
trade-vehicles across the Park, with an aggregate length of two miles,
and twenty-one miles of walk. As an item of city property, Central Park
is at present valued at six million dollars; but this, of course, is
quite a nominal and unstable valuation. The worth of the Park to New
York property in general is altogether beyond calculation.

New York feeds her people with about two million slaughter-animals per
annum. How these are classified, and what periodical changes their
supply undergoes, may be conveniently seen by the following tabular view
of the New York butchers' receiving-yards during the twelve months of
the year 1863. I am indebted for it to the experience and courtesy of
Mr. Solon Robinson, agricultural editor of the "New York Tribune."

_Receipts of Butchers' Animals in New York during 1863._

+-------+---------+---------+---------+---------+----------+
|Month. | Beeves. | Cows. | Calves. | Sheep. | Swine. |
|-------+---------+---------+---------+---------+----------+
|Jan. | 16,349 | 393 | 1,318 | 25,352 | 138,413 |
|Feb. | 19,930 | 474 | 1,207 | 24,877 | 98,099 |
|March | 22,187 | 843 | 2,594 | 29,645 | 79,320 |
|April | 18,921 | 636 | 3,182 | 18,311 | 56,516 |
|May | 16,739 | 440 | 3,510 | 20,338 | 39,305 |
|June | 23,785 | 718 | 5,516 | 44,808 | 56,612 |
|July | 20,224 | 396 | 2,993 | 41,614 | 40,716 |
|August | 20,347 | 496 | 3,040 | 49,900 | 36,725 |
|Sept. | 30,847 | 524 | 3,654 | 79,078 | 68,646 |
|Oct. | 24,397 | 475 | 3,283 | 64,144 | 112,265 |
|Nov. | 23,991 | 557 | 3,378 | 61,082 | 183,359 |
|Dec. | 26,374 | 518 | 2,034 | 60,167 | 191,641 |
|-------+---------+---------+---------+---------+----------+
|Total | | | | | |
|of each| 264,091 | 6,470 | 35,709 | 519,316 |1,101,617 |
|kind, | | | | |