he
traffic in Milk. Readers of newspapers may remember the descriptions
published some years since of the horrid dens in which London cows were
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 quantities brought by
railway from a range of a hundred miles and more all round London, even
the poorest classes in the metropolis are now enabled to obtain as
wholesome a supply of the article as the inhabitants of most country
towns.

These great streams of food, which we have thus so summarily described,
flow into London so continuously and uninterruptedly, that comparatively
few persons are aware of the magnitude and importance of the process thus
daily going forward. Though gathered from an immense extent of
country--embracing England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland--the influx is
so unintermitted that it is relied upon with as much certainty as if it
only came from the counties immediately adjoining London. The express
meat-train from Aberdeen arrives in town as punctually as the Clapham
omnibus, and the express milk-train from Aylesbury is as regular in its
delivery as the penny post. Indeed London now depends so much upon
railways for its subsistence, that it may be said to be fed by them from
day to day, having never more than a few days' food in stock. And the
supply is so regular and continuous, that the possibility of its being
interrupted never for a moment occurs to any one. Yet in these days of
strikes amongst workmen, such a contingency is quite within the limits of
possibility. Another contingency, which might arise during a state of
war, is probably still more remote. But were it possible for a war to
occur between England and a combination of foreign powers possessed of
stronger ironclads than ours, and that they were able to ram our ships
back into port and land an enemy of overpowering force on the Essex
coast, it would be sufficient for them to occupy or cut the railways
leading from the north, to starve London into submission in less than a
fortnight.

Besides supplying London with food, railways have also been instrumental
in ensuring the more regular and economical supply of fuel,--a matter of
almost as vital