THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



353 



health aad growth of the turnip plant. What oats are 

 to the horse, superphosphate of lime, if we are to believe 

 ia their teaching, is to this root. Nevertheless, co- 

 incident with this oft urged doctrine, and with the 

 wide-spread use of the so-advocated manure, the turnip 

 crops throughout the length and breadth of the land 

 have progressed from bad to worse in morbid degeneracy. 

 Most probable it is, that when the science of husbandry 

 is more studied and -better known, improved methods 

 of cultivation adequate to stay this lamentable visitation 

 will be discovered. In the meantime, from which agri- 

 cultural school shall we seek instruction in remedial 

 practice ? Shall it be from that one, whose precepts, 

 deduced from the general laws of vegetative nature, are 



to store the earth with those uutrimenls which plants 

 after their kind most affect, in like manner as we fill the 

 cribs of our beasts each with an appropriate food con- 

 taining all the elements required by the animal to form 

 the various parts of its structure, and then replenish 

 them when they are empty ; or, shall we prefer to draw 

 instruction from teachers whose arguments resting on 

 the narrow basis of unindustrial, contradicted and self- 

 contradicting experiments, performed on one single de- 

 scription of land, in one given climate, and for a few 

 seasons, inculcate the reliance on certain inuutritious 

 and stimulative manurial specifics, as alike efficient to 

 promote fertility in all soils, in all climates, and without 

 decrement for ever ? 



THE CHICAGO BEEF AND PORK TRADE. 



Increasing importance attaches to the Chicago beef 

 and pork trade every year. This is owing to the in- 

 creasing dependence of the country upon other coun- 

 tries for supplies of food. This, in turn, arises from 

 the improving condition of the working classes, which 

 seems to advance more rapidly than the supply of cattle. 

 From the great abundance of the western harvest of the 

 present season, a more than usual number of Chicago 

 hogs and cattle will be fed and slaughtered ; and the 

 quality of the meat is expected to be very fine. The 

 way that an abundant western harvest operates is this : 

 The farmer fails to get as much wheat and com to mar- 

 ket as he wished to do ; and he drives from the prairie 

 to his cattle-yard as many cattle and hogs as can be 

 spared, and feeds them. This being done by one and 

 all, the result is obvious ; and the imp; ''ved condition 

 of the country (the United States), compared with the 

 last year or two, is such, that there will be no lack of 

 capital to employ in slaughtering, and no disposition to 

 allow a single well-conditioned animal to remain unsold. 

 This speculative demand — for such it may be termed — 

 would seem to point to a higher Consequent range of 

 prices ; but experience shows that prices in England are 

 in the main determined by the demand in England, 

 without reference to the buying price abroad. 



A large supply of Chicago packed beef, the major 

 portion of which will reach the English market, usually 

 operates in the following mannef : It is offered at a 

 lower price than English beef ; and being generally pre- 

 ferable for shipping purposes and exportation, it is 

 bought more freely, and English beef less freely. It 

 will, in fact, take the place of English beef to a more 

 than usual extent, for shipping purposes ; and the de- 

 mand for English beef being diminished, more of it will 

 remain for home consumption, and the tendency of 

 prices will be lower. None but those familiar with the 

 wants of shipping can form an idea of the great demand 

 for fresh beef for ship use at the beginning of long 

 voyages, when packed beef is indifferent in quality, 

 or scarce and dear, and the comparatively decreased 

 demand when packed beef is plentiful and good. 



Chicago pork usually reaches England in the form of 



shoulders and hams and bacon, it being too fat for 

 shipping purposes. The hams and shoulders enter 

 largely into consumption in Ireland, and the bacon 

 forms the bulk of the not -mild article in the London 

 and country ham and butter shops, notwithstanding 

 assurances to the contrary. Not unfrequently it will 

 pass for mild, the meat having been well fed, and the 

 curing conducted by Englishmen acquainted with the 

 most approved method. An unusually large supply of 

 these different pork products, as they are termed, will 

 have precisely the same effect as an increase in the 

 supply of shipping beef. They will invite increased 

 consumption, and lead to the supply of live animals 

 going further. Hence the importance which attaches to 

 the Chicago beef and pork trade. A short supply of 

 western-fed hogs and cattle leads to an increased de- 

 mand for live cattle in the English markets, and prices 

 rule high ; while a full supply leads to a decreased 

 demand, and to moderate prices. For the past two or 

 three years western supplies have been deficient, and 

 the invariable result has followed ; and this season, 

 when the supplies will be large, there is every reason to 

 believe that prices before long will decline. 



No attempt has yetbeenmade to bring western beef and 

 pork to the English market in an unsalted state, but 

 recent successful experiments with prairie chickens and 

 other game give some hope of an early trial being made. 

 The game experiment has so far succeeded that birds 

 shot on the prairies of Illinois in December have beea 

 sold, in prime condition, by London game-dealers in 

 February— eight weeks after being killed. They are 

 sent from Chicago to New York in a frozen state, and 

 subsequently packed on board the Atlantic steamboats 

 in the neighbourhood of ice ; and when received in 

 London, they appear to be still as fit for keeping as our 

 own moor-fowl. Of course game is more easily pre- 

 served than beef or pork ; but, considering the hard 

 frozen state of American meat in the winter, and the 

 facilities that exist for preservation during a short 

 steam voyage, it appears not altogether improbable that 

 by-and-bye regular supplies will be received. Should 

 such a trade be opened, the breeding of cattle would be 



