24 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



owing to the competition both between the trunk railroad 

 lines and the ocean steamship lines. Does this large expor- 

 tation affect our own markets? Does it affect the price of 

 beef at home ? There can be no question but that the ship- 

 ment of four or five thousand of our best cattle out of the 

 country each week must have, and has had, an appreciable 

 effect upon our markets. "We think it not the least exag- 

 geration to say that the price of beef at home has been held 

 up at least one dollar per hundred, in consequence of this 

 new traffic. It is generally thought that the Western States 

 only, can furnish the kind of beef required for this trade, 

 which is not the fact. We quite often hear of some lots 

 being sent from the New-England States, and even from our 

 own Connecticut-river Valley. Not long ago we noticed 

 that a stock-dealer shipped twenty-six head, valued at two 

 thousand dollars, from near Concord, N.H. There is no 

 reason why the West should monopolize the shipment of 

 either live or dead beef to Great Britain. New England 

 is capable of producing cattle for foreign export at remune- 

 rative prices, and we hope to see an increased attention paid 

 to the raising of cattle for the export trade. 



It is plain that the only way to meet with success in 

 this direction would be by breeding from the meat-produ- 

 cing breeds. We have as yet alluded only to the benefits 

 arising from the raising of neat-stock for meat production, 

 intending hereafter to notice some of the products, including 

 those of the dairy, which, when manufactured, in connection 

 with the production of meat, may be made profitable to the 

 New-England farmer. It was not our intention to advocate 

 the merits of any particular breed of cattle for its accom- 

 plishment, but in the preceding sentence we have advised 

 to breed from the meat-producing breeds. In this connec- 

 tion we may express our regret that those in authority at 

 the Massachusetts Agricultural College felt obliged to take 

 steps which led to the sacrifice of their Short-horn stock. 



There is one branch of the export trade in cattle which is 

 comparatively new, which has sprung up between some parts 

 of Europe and the United States. We allude to the expor- 

 tation of lean cattle to Germany, which bids fair to become a 

 very lucrative business to both countries. We have gleaned 

 a few facts from one of the agricultural journals, which are 



