The Butcher's Bill.

THE BUTCHER'S BILL .

In all upper and middle class households the butcher ' s bill is the heaviest of the Aveekly accounts . No people consume so much fleshmeat as the English ; no people consume it so Avastefully . And as , in consequence of our wasteful habits , AA e have a Avicle margin for retrenchment ,

it behoves every head of a family at the present moment to prepare to meet the difficulties of the crisis . A famine of butcher ' s meat will inevitably raise the price of all other articles of food , to say nothing of the rain AA'hich , as Ave Avrite , is ruining the harvest of 1865 . Even those whose fortunes

are so large as to render the amount of their daily household expenditure of comparatively small importance , are in duty bound to set the example of a well-timed and judicious economy , in order that more food may remain for other families less fortunate than themselves . The waste connected with

our daily consumption of butcher ' s meatcommences in the butcher ' s shop . The percentage system is calculated to make the cook " safe "—lo induce the servant Ave pay to Avatch over our interests to betray them . Nobody , save the cook and the butcher , really ICUOAVS AAdiat Aveight of meat actually comes

into a house ; indeed , in very few households is the daily supply of meat reweighed Avhenit is sent in . We count the dozens of Avine Ave receive from the Avine merchant ; Ave see our silks and linen measured AA'hen Ave buy them ; but for some unaccountable reason we take our butcher ' s

accuracy and integrity upon trust . And , as Ave have already pointed out , the butcher ' s is the heaA-iest of all our weekly bills . The first step toAA-ards kitchen reform , therefore , that u e should advise , would be that every joint sent into the house from the butcher ' s should be

reAveighed as soon as it is received . The next step will be to see that Ave get from that tradesman Avhat Ave AA'ant and no more . If bullocks and sheep are scarce and clear , meat must be dear also ; and Ave haA e no desire to enter upon the question of pricewhich must depend l

, upon suppy and competition . We are simply alluding to the vicious custom Avhich exists in the meat trade of weighing in Avith the prime joints for Avhich the highest price is paid , quantities of bone , fat , flaps , and coarse pieces , almost all of Avhich , in upper nnd middle class families , are either throAvn to

Avaste or go to SAVCII the perquisites of the cook . In France , Avhere tlie price of meat has usually ranged higher than in England , and Avhere fortunes are not generally so large as they are Avith us , the method of retailing butcher ' s meat has been much more thrifty . A French mmagttre ,

Avishing to buy the under portion of the sirlointhe filet—gets exactly what she Avants , and no more . Here , iu order to obtain the filet , she has to take the whole sirloin , accompanied by a quantity of fat and coarse meat for Avhich she has no need . Although in France she would have to pay more per pound for the filet than she AA'ould here

pay for the sirloin , she Avould , piratically , pay less ; for in one case there ivould be no waste , in the other the Avaste Avould be great ; and so it is with all other prime joints . The usage of the trade in England Aveighs in with them flaps and fat shankbones , Avhich must all be trimmed off

and cast aside before they can appear upon the table . Instead of buying our cutlets and chops ready for the gridiron or the casserole , Ave buy loins and necks of fat mutton , at least half of which are throAvn to Avaste . The enormous weiht of meat thus daily

g squandered in our kitchens Avould be most acceptable to the poorer classes , and could be readily sold to them by the butcher , for the inferior parts of good meat are far more AAdrolesome and

nourishing than the best parts of inferior meat , such as the poorer classes chiefly eat . The second step , therefore , towai'ds kitchen reform ought to be an arrangement with the butcher that every joint sent in should be closely trimmed for the table before it leaves his shop ; and that if Ave want

chops or cutlets , Ave should , buy from him chops and cutlets , and not entire joints from which they are cut . Then comes the question of actual consumption—whether the meat is to be eaten by everybody three times a day and hot joints for supper & c . This must be left to the firmness

, and discretion of their employers . It is painful to think that those Avho Avork faithfully and hardly for one ' s family are insufficiently fed ; but still there is a limit to indulgence , beyond which it is absurd and wrong to transgress .

Our correspondent "Providus , " who wrote in our columns some months back a series of letters on domestic economy , placed the most exorbitant daily consumption of butcher ' s meat to which a first-class family could fairly attain at a pound and a half a head . There is no difficult y in showing

that- this estimate is excessive . In every firstclass family the consumption of fish , eggs , bacon , butter , and poultry is considerable , and all those items ought to diminish the consumption of butcher ' s meat . Probably the best specimens of athletic , Avell-fed Englishmen to be seen are among

the gentlemen of her Majesty's household brigade . They are all six feet high at least , they are all young ; and healthy , they are all in hard condition and Avork . Their appetites , therefore , may be supposed to be above the average , ancl although none of themsave their non-commissioned officersare

, , positively corpulent , they certainly bear no appearance of being stiuted . NOAV , if Ave reflect that a jjrivate family of , say sixteen persons , of whom one half are women and children , dieted according to the estimate of "Providus" en Hlb . of meat a head

dailybe-, , sides butter , fish , poultry , bacon , and eggs , ad libitum , consume exactly the Aveig ht AA'hich is found ample to maintain thirty-tAvo life guardsmen in high health and vigour , AA'ithout the accessories of butter , fish , poultry , bacon , and esrgs , Ave think Ave