30 BuEEAu OF Farmers' Institutes. 



hip. In cutting for the retail trade the " rib roast " is taken from 

 the cut designated " rib," and the " porterhouse " and " sirloin " 

 cuts are taken from the loin cut. Tenderloin steak is taken from 

 the Inside and just beneath the ribs on either side of the spiral 

 column, and the commercial beef tenderloin always comes from 

 inferior stock, mainly from "canners." That class of cattle has no 

 other meat that is desirable for the block, and the tenderloin 

 strips may be pulled out and put on the market, while the re- 

 mainder goes into the boiling vats for canned or pressed beef. 

 To take tenderloin steak from good carcasses would destroy the 

 value of the " porterhouse " cuts. This the dealer never does. 

 The other retail cuts and their relative values are shown in the 

 second diagram (Fig 6). The third illustration (Fig. 7) represents 

 the retail method of English butchers. 



The Chicago and New York markets discriminate more sharply 

 and present a wider variation in the relative price of the prime 

 and coarser cuts than any other markets in the world. By refer- 

 ence to the wholesale method of cutting beef used by Swift & Co., 

 and the actual wholesale selling prices of the several cuts taken 

 from a bunch of cattle sold this firm by the Iowa Experiment 

 Station, it will be seen that the rib and loin cuts command over 

 four times the average price paid for the remainder of the carcass, 

 and it is apparent that the practical beef animal must be good 

 in these parts. Broad, well-covered backs and ribs are absolutely 

 necessary to a good carcass of beef, and no other excellencies, 

 however great, will compensate for the lack of this essential. It 

 is necessary to both breed and feed for thickness in these parts. 

 And mere thickness and substance here are not all. Animals 

 that are soft and patchy, or hard and rolled on the back, are sure 

 to give defective and objectionable carcasses, even though they 

 are thick, and they also cut up with correspondingly greater 

 waste. 



A marked and important change has taken place in the profit- 

 able type of cattle within comparatively recent years. This 

 change is strikingly illustrated in the development of the Short- 

 horn. By the courtesy of that veteran feeder and most excellent 



