_Street-Sellers of Dogs (Fancy Pets)._
From the best data it appears that
each hawker sells “four or five
occasionally in one week in the summer,
when trade’s brisk and days
are long, and only two or three
the next week, when trade may be
flat, and during each week in winter,
when there isn’t the same chance.”
Calculating, then, that seven dogs are
sold by each hawker in a fortnight,
at an average price of 50_s._ each
(many fetch 3_l._, 4_l._, and 5_l._), and supposing
that but 20 men are trading
in this line the year through, we
find that no less a sum is yearly expended
in this street-trade than 9,100 0 0
_Street-Sellers of Sporting Dogs._
The amount “turned over” in the
trade in sporting dogs yearly, in London,
is computed by the best informed
at about 12,000 0 0
_Street-Sellers and Duffers of Live Birds.
(English)._
There are in the metropolis 200
street-sellers of English birds, who
may be said to sell among them 7000
linnets, at 3_d._ each; 3000 bullfinches,
at 2_s._ 6_d._ each; 400 piping bullfinches,
at 63_s._ each; 7000 goldfinches, at
9_d._ each; 1500 chaffinches, at 2_s._ 6_d._
each; 700 greenfinches, at 3_d._ each;
6000 larks, at 1_s._ each; 200 nightingales,
at 1_s._ each; 600 redbreasts, at
1_s._ each; 3500 thrushes and thrustles,
at 2_s._ 6_d._ each; 1400 blackbirds, at
2_s._ 6_d._ each; 1000 canaries, at 1_s._
each; 10,000 sparrows, at 1_d._ each;
1500 starlings, at 1_s._ 6_d._ each; 500
magpies and jackdaws, at 9_d._ each;
300 redpoles, at 9_d._ each; 150 blackcaps,
at 4_d._ each; 2000 “duffed”
birds, at 2_s._ 6_d._ each. Thus making
the sum annually expended in the
purchase of birds in the streets,
amount to 3,624 12 2
_Street-Sellers of Parrots, &c._
The number of individuals at present
hawking parrots and other foreign
birds in the streets is 10, who sell
among them during the year about
500 birds. Reckoning each bird to
sell at 1_l._, we find the annual outlay
upon parrots bought in the streets to
be 500_l._; adding to this the sale of
110 Java sparrows and St. Helena
birds, as Wax-bills and Red-beaks at
1_s._ 6_d._ each, we have for the sum
yearly expended in the streets on the
sale of foreign birds 508 5 0
_Street-Sellers of Birds’-Nests._
There are at present only three
persons hawking birds’-nests, &c., in
the streets during the season, which
lasts from May to August; these
street-sellers sell among them 400
nests, at 2-1/2_d._ each; 144 snakes, at
1_s._ 6_d._ each; 4 hedgehogs, at 1_s._ each;
and about 2_s._’s worth of snails. This
makes the weekly income of each
amount to about 8_s._ 6_d._ during a
period of 12 weeks in the summer,
and the sum annually expended on
these articles to come to 15 6 0
_Street-Sellers of Squirrels._
For five months of the year there
are 20 men selling squirrels in the
streets, at from 20 to 50 per cent.
profit, and averaging a weekly sale of
six each. The average price is from
2_s._ to 2_s._ 6_d._ Thus 2400 squirrels
are vended yearly in the streets, at
a cost to the public of 240 0 0
_Street-Sellers of Leverets, Wild Rabbits, &c._
During the year there are about
six individuals exposing for sale in the
streets young hares and wild rabbits.
These persons sell among them 300
leverets, at 1_s._ 6_d._ each; and 400
young wild-rabbits, at 4_d._ each, giving
a yearly outlay of 29 3 4
_Street-Sellers of Gold and Silver Fish._
If we calculate, in order to allow
for the cessation of the trade during the
winter, and often in the summer when
costermongering is at its best, that
but 35 gold-fish sellers hawk in the
streets and that for but half a year,
each selling six dozen weekly, at 12_s._
the dozen, we find 65,520 fish sold,
at an outlay of 3,276 0 0
_Street-Sellers of Tortoises._
Estimating the number of individuals
selling tortoises to be 20, and
the number of tortoises sold to be
10,000, at an average price of 8_d._
each, we find there is expended yearly
upon these creatures upwards of 333 6 8
_Street-Sellers of Snails, Frogs, &c._
There are 14 snail gatherers, and
they, on an average, gather six dozen
quarts each in a year, which supplies
a total of 12,096 quarts of snails.
The labourers in the gardens, I am
informed, gather somewhat more than
an equal quantity, the greater part
being sold to the bird-shops; so that
altogether the supply of snails for
the caged thrushes and blackbirds of
London is about two millions and a
half. Computing them at 24,000
quarts, and at 2_d._ a quart, the annual
outlay is 200_l._ Besides snails, there
are collected annually 500 frogs and 18
toads, at 1_d._ each, giving a yearly
expenditure of 202 3 2
TOTAL, OR GROSS “TAKINGS,” OF THE
STREET-SELLERS OF LIVE ANIMALS 23,868 16 4
INCOME, OR “TAKINGS,” OF THE STREET-SELLERS OF MINERAL PRODUCTIONS AND
NATURAL CURIOSITIES.
_Street-Sellers of Coals._
The number of individuals engaged
in the street-sale of coals is 210;
these distribute 2940 tons of coals
weekly, giving an annual trade of
152,880 tons, at 1_l._ per ton, and consequently
a yearly expenditure by
the poor of 152,880 0 0
_Street-Sellers of Coke._
The number of individuals engaged
in the street-sale of coke is 1500;
and the total quantity of coke sold
annually in the streets is computed
at about 1,400,000 chaldrons. These
are purchased at the gas factories at
an average price of 8_s._ per chaldron.
Reckoning that this is sold at 4_s._ per
chaldron for profit, we find that the
total gains of the whole class amount
to 280,000_l._ per annum, and their
gross annual takings to 840,000 0 0
_Street-Sellers of Tan-Turf._
The number of tan-turf sellers in
the metropolis is estimated at 14;
each of these dispose of, upon an
average, 20,000 per week, during
the year; selling them at 1_s._ per
hundred, and realizing a profit of
4-1/2_d._ for each hundred. This makes
the annual outlay in the street-sale of
the above article amount to 7,280 0 0
_Street-Sellers of Salt._
There are at present 150 individuals
hawking salt in the several
streets of London; each of these pay
at the rate of 2_s._ per cwt. for the salt,
and retail it at 3 lbs. for 1_d._, which
leaves 1_s._ 1_d._ profit on every cwt.
One day with another, wet and dry,
each of the street-sellers disposes of
about 2-1/2 cwt., or 18 tons 15 cwt.
per day for all hands, and this, deducting
Sundays, makes 5868 tons
15 cwt. in the course of the year.
The profit of 1_s._ 1_d._ per cwt.
amounts to a yearly aggregate profit
of 6357_l._ 16_s._ 3_d._, or about 42_l._
per annum for each person in the
trade; while the sum annually expended
upon this article in the streets
amounts to 18,095 6 3
_Street-Sellers of Sand._
Calculating the sale at a load of
sand per day, for each horse and cart,
at 21_s._ per load, we find the sum
annually expended in house-sand
to be 6573_l._; adding to this the sum
of 234_l._ spent yearly in bird-sand,
the total street-expenditure is 6,807 0 0
_Street-Sellers of Shells._
There are about 50 individuals
disposing of shells at different periods
of the year. These sell among them
1,000,000 at 1_d._ each, giving an
annual expenditure of 4,166 13 4
---------------------
TOTAL, OR GROSS TAKINGS, OF THE
STREET-SELLERS OF MINERAL PRODUCTIONS
AND NATURAL CURIOSITIES £1,029,228 19 7
---------------------
_River-Sellers of Purl._
There are at present 35 men following
the trade of purl-selling on the
river Thames to colliers. The weekly
profits of this class amount to 117_l._ 5_s._
per week, and yearly to 6097_l._, while
their annual takings is 8,190 0 0
Now, adding together the above and the other foregone results, we
arrive at the following estimate as to the amount of money annually
expended on the several articles purchased in the streets of the
metropolis.
“Wet” fish £1,177,200 £
Dry fish 127,000
Shell fish 156,600
----------
Fish of all kinds £1,460,800
Vegetables £292,400
Green fruit 332,200
Dry fruit 1,000
----------
Fruit and Vegetables 625,600
Game, poultry, rabbits, &c. 80,000
Flowers, roots, &c. 14,800
Water-cresses 13,900
Chickweed, gru’nsel, and turf for birds 14,570
Eatables and drinkables 203,100
Stationery, literature, and fine arts 33,400
Manufactured articles 188,200
Second-hand articles 29,900
Live animals (_including dogs, birds,
and gold fish_) 29,300
Mineral productions (_as coals, coke,
salt, sand, &c._) 1,022,700
----------
TOTAL SUM EXPENDED UPON THE
VARIOUS ARTICLES VENDED BY THE
STREET-SELLERS £3,716,270
Hence it appears that the street-sellers, of all ages, in the
metropolis are about forty thousand in number--their stock-in-trade is
worth about sixty thousand pounds--and their gross annual takings or
receipts amount to no less than three millions and a half sterling.