PROSPECTS OF STOCK FARMING. 29 



4,113 cows, 133,573 calves, 1,341,502 sheep ; in 1879, 568,548 

 beeves, 7,400 cows, 155,890 calves, 1,508,254 sheep. At 

 Chicago, the cattle sold in 1855 numbered 10,000 ; in 1865, 

 333,000 ; in 1870, 533,000 ; in 1879, some over 1,000,000. 

 But as Chicago is a distributing market, probably three- 

 fourths of them are shipped again for Eastern markets. 



At Boston the receipts for 1877 were 156,000, seventy-six 

 per cent of which came from the West. 



We have already said something as to the permanence of 

 the foreign demand for our meats ; but it is an interesting 

 fact for the farmers of this country that the possibilities 

 and probabilities of this new trade have aroused a fear in 

 England, lest the importation of meat into England may un- 

 favorably affect the prospects of the British farmers. 



Professor Sheldon, to whom I have already alluded, writes, 

 " Since the days when the repeal of the Corn Laws in Eng- 

 land was advocated by the far-seeing men of that period, 

 few things, if any, directly touching the interests of agricul- 

 ture in this country, have been so widely discussed, or have 

 produced in certain quarters so much apprehension, as the 

 importation of American meat. Amongst the dairying and 

 meat-producing farmers of these islands, whose prospects 

 were immediately affected by it, the subject of American 

 meat produced for a time something closely akin to a scare ; 

 and settled apprehension remains in the minds of many, that 

 British stock-farming has been shorn of much of its present 

 and future prosperity." 



But Professor Sheldon takes another view, viz., " that the 

 agriculture of England will adapt itself to new conditions ; 

 and if, as some say, we (England) are up to our limit of 

 meat production, then there is room for American meat to 

 come in," and he goes on to say, that if the estimate of 

 " The London Times " is true, that the population of Eng- 

 land shall double in fifty-four years, and in five generations 

 become two hundred million, then they may congratulate 

 themselves that there is American meat to fall back upon. 

 And Professor Sheldon goes on further to say, " that Amer- 

 ica is already in a condition to send us very much meat; 

 and not only that, but she is able to multiply the amount 

 from year to year almost indefinitely." America has nine 

 acres of land in farms (exclusive of the acres in forests) to 



