22 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



cient animal food because of the high prices. American 

 meat brought to 'their stores sells from six to ten cents a 

 pound lower than the price asked for English beef; and a 

 suspicion is entertained that not a few butchers sell Ameri- 

 can for English beef at the advanced rates. 



The shipment of fresh meat to England, we learn, was 

 begun by one Timothy Eastman ; and his first lot consisted 

 of forty-five cattle and fifty sheep in October, 1875. At the 

 close of 1876 and at the beginning of 1877, his shipments 

 amounted to from six hundred to a thousand per week, 

 and have continued till he has opened markets in a number 

 of the principal cities of Great Britain. The cost of ship- 

 ping fresh meat to England has been reduced since its com- 

 mencement. At one time it required one ton of ice to every 

 two thousand pounds of meat ; but, owing to improvements 

 in refrigeration, the quantity needed is much smaller. The 

 average steamer freight now for live cattle is seventeen dol- 

 lars and a half per head, or from twenty to twenty-five 

 dollars, including all costs and commissions on the other side ; 

 but, with this addition to the cost at home, it is said that 

 American beef sells in Liverpool at about the same price as 

 at Boston. 



The question which interests American farmers is as to the 

 permanence of this foreign demand. The best proof of 

 the strong hold that American beef and mutton has upon 

 the British public, and of the permanent character of the 

 traffic, is the fact that English capitalists and traders are 

 preparing to engage in the business on an extensive scale ; 

 and already arrangements have been made for the shipment 

 of Texas cattle from Galveston direct to England, instead 

 of by the usual route of driving and freighting across the 

 country, and thence by steamer from New York or Boston. 

 We learn that the steamship " Great Eastern " has been 

 fitted up for this purpose. The fact of the safe arrivals of 

 whole cargoes of live-stock without loss has become estab- 

 lished, and is no longer an experiment. One writer has said 

 in regard to this whole subject, that "the meat question, in 

 connection with stock-raising, has resolved itself into one of 

 the most important questions in the realm of agriculture. 

 Wheat, corn, oats, and other cereals are important crops; 

 but stock-raising, in reference to the future supply of meats, 



