CHAPTER III. Of the different Kinds of Food furnished to the Poor in the House of Industry at Munich, with an Account of the Cost of them. Of the Expense of providing the same Kinds of Food in Great Britain, as well at the present high Prices of Provisions as at the ordinary Prices of them.- Of the various Improvements of which these different Kinds of cheap Food are capable. BEF EFORE the introduction of potatoes as food in the House of Industry at Munich (which was not done till last August), the poor were fed with a soup composed in the following manner:— Cost in sterling money. £ s. d. 4 viertels* of pearl barley, equal to about 20 gallons. 24 maasse very weak beer, vinegar, or rather small beer turned sour, about 24 quarts. Water, about 560 quarts Fuel, 88 lbs. of dry pine-wood, the Bavarian klafter (weighing 3961 lbs. avoirdupois) at 8s. 24 d. sterling t.. * A viertel is the twelfth part of a schäffel, and the Bavarian schäffel is equal to 6 Winchester bushels. 100 ↑ The quantity of fuel here mentioned, though it certainly is almost incredibly small, was nevertheless determined from the results of actual experiments. A particular account of these experiments will be given in my Essay on the Management of Heat and the Economy of Fuel. £ s. d Brought over Wages of three cook-maids, at twenty florins (37s. 7 d.) a year each, makes daily Daily expense for feeding the three cook-maids, at ten Daily wages of two men servants, employed in going to Total daily expenses, when dinner is provided for 1200 persons. This sum (17. 155. 2 d.) divided by 1200, the number of portions of soup furnished, gives for each portion a mere trifle more than one third of a penny, or exactly 12% of a penny, the weight of each portion being about 20 ounces. 422 But, moderate as these expenses are which have attended the feeding of the poor of Munich, they have lately been reduced still farther by introducing the use of potatoes. These most valuable vegetables were hardly known in Bavaria till very lately; and so strong was the aversion of the public, and particularly of the poor, against them, at the time when we began to make use of them in the public kitchen of the House of Industry in Munich, that we were absolutely obliged, at first, to introduce them by stealth. A private room in a retired corner was fitted up as a kitchen for cooking them; and it was necessary to disguise them by boiling them down entirely, and destroying their form and texture, to prevent their being detected. But the poor soon found that their soup was improved in its qualities; and they testified their approbation of the change that had been made in it so generally and loudly that it was at last thought to be no longer necessary to conceal from them the secret of its composition, and they are now grown so fond of potatoes that they would not easily be satisfied without them. The employing of potatoes as an ingredient in the soup has enabled us to make a considerable saving in the other more costly materials, as may be seen by comparing the following receipt with that already given: Expenses for fuel, servants, repairs, etc., as before 0 3 51% I 763 1200 persons. This sum (17. 7s. 63d.) divided by 1200, the number of portions of soup, gives for each portion one farthing very nearly, or accurately 1% farthing. The quantity of each of the ingredients contained in one portion of soup is as follows: The expense of preparing these soups will vary with the prices of the articles of which they are composed; but, as the quantities of the ingredients determined by weight are here given, it will be easy to ascertain exactly what they will cost in any case whatever. Suppose, for instance, it were required to determine how much 1200 portions of the soup No. I. would cost in London at this present moment (the 12th of November, 1795), when all kinds of provisions are uncommonly dear. I see by a printed report of the Board of Agriculture, of the day before yesterday (November 10), that the prices of the articles necessary for preparing these soups were as follows: Barley, per bushel weighing 46 lbs. at 5s. 6d., which gives for each pound about 1d.; but, prepared as pearl barley, it will cost at least twopence per pound.* Boiling peas, per bushel weighing 61 lbs. at 10s., which gives for each pound nearly 1d. * One Bavarian schäffel (equal to 68 Winchester bushels) of barley, weighing at a medium 250 Bavarian pounds, upon being pearled, or rolled (as it is called in Germany), is reduced to half a schäffel, which weighs 171 Bavarian pounds. The 79 pounds which it loses in the operation is the perquisite of the miller, and is all he receives for his trouble. Potatoes, per bushel weighing 58 lbs. at 2s. 6d., which gives nearly one halfpenny for each pound. And I find that a quartern loaf of wheaten bread weighing 4 lbs. 5 oz. costs now in London Is. old. This bread must therefore be reckoned at 115 farthings per pound. Salt costs d. per pound; and vinegar (which is probably six times as strong as that stuff called vinegar which is used in the kitchen of the House of Industry at Munich) costs 1s. 8d. per gallon. This being premised, the computations may be made as follows: Expense of preparing in London, in the month of November, 1795, 1200 portions of the Soup No. I. Expenses for fuel, servants, kitchen furniture, etc., reckoning. three times as much as those articles of expense amount to daily at Munich Which sum (37. 95. 9td.) divided by 1200, the number of portions of soup, gives 21% farthings, or nearly 2 farthings for each portion. For the soup No. II. it will be: : Expenses for fuel, servants, etc. VOL. IV. Total. I 8 10 41 |