452 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



and may be purchased at a price which would admit of 

 their being fed by our farmers, and sold at a cheaper rate than 

 the cattle now fed : but of iifty head shipped, perhaps not 

 twenty would be received alive. Hence it is inferred, that 

 unless lean cattle can be got nearer than the Spanish ports, 

 they cannot be got at all. But what is the character of the 

 transport provided from the Spanish ports ? It is unques- 

 tionably worse than from other ports, and for this reason — 

 that the Spanish shipments of fruits and wine are, in the 

 one case, to some extent perishable, if shipped in large 

 quantities, and in the other too valuable, and in too limited 

 demand, to be shipped in large quantities at one time. The 

 vessels employed in the wine and fruit trade are usually not 

 more than a hundred tons register — a size of vessel quite 

 unsuited for cattle transport, particularly when the stormy 

 character of the voyage is considered. Had the require- 

 ments of the Spanish fruit and wine trade led to the em- 

 ployment of ships of one, two, or three thousand tons re- 

 gister, there would on the other hand, have been ships 

 adapted for cattle carrying, and instead of the opinion being 

 abroad that Spain is too far to go for feeding cattle, atten- 

 tion might have long since been turned to more distant 

 parts. 



These observations are a necessary preface to any obser- 

 vations on the New York cattle trade. We would have little 

 practical interest in anything relating to that trade, unless 

 there were some probability of its supplying ourselves 

 with that description of cattle which we do not receive from 

 other parts in sufficient numbers to bring meat sufficiently 

 within the reach of the poorer classes. That there is such a 

 probability, scarcely more is'necessary to be said, in the way 

 of proof, than that each of the Atlantic steamers carries a 

 milch cow for the supply of passengers with milk, and does 

 so in a safe and simple way. A box, with the inner end 

 partly open, is constructed on the deck, with scarcely more 

 width than allows the cow to turn ; and the sides of the box 

 ore padded with a little straw. So secured, the cow expe- 

 riences no inconvenience in the worst weather, and is milked 

 three times daily. Obviously such an arrangement can be ex- 

 tended to any number of cows and cattle ; and who will 

 doubt that were a demand created for American cattle in the 

 English markets, that it would be the interest of shipowners 

 to adapt some of the larger class of vessels to cattle 

 transport ? On the Pacific coast of the United States, cattle 

 have been carried with success a distance equal to half an 

 Atlantic voyage, and might have made the return voyage, or 

 the whole Atlantic distance, with very trifling loss. Cattle 

 have also been brought successfully from Texas to New 

 York, a distance not much less than an Atlantic voyage. 

 These facts establish the practicability of the trade ; and 

 were the Great Eastern, as has been suggested, so employed, 

 taking all the produce that could be had in New York, and 

 filling up with cattle, there is no reason to believe that the 

 loss from accident would be greater on the voyage from 

 New York than from the Dutch and North of Scotland 

 ports, 



But a qaestion here arises: is America a cattle-pro- 

 ducing country ? or rather is there a sufficient margin be- 

 tween prices here and prices there, supposing transporta- 

 tion possible ? Of the fact there is no doubt. Nowhere 

 ore cattle produced at a smaller cost to the farmer than in the 

 Western States; and nowhere, therefore, may it be supposed 

 will a smaller price suffice to purchase them, The summer 

 keep of as many cattle as the prairie fanner may choose to 

 have costs nothing but the wages of a boy to herd them; 

 and the winter keep of hay costs nothing but the labour of 



mowing in the morning, and carrying in the afternoon. 

 The prairie cattle roam at large on the boundless prairie, 

 feeding on the grass ; and the farmer may secure for win- 

 ter use as much hay as he pleases. Practically there is no 

 more limit to the production of prairie cattle than of prairie 

 wheat and corn, and the production is largely on the in- 

 crease. This year as compared with last, at the shipping port 

 of Chicago, in the State of Illinois, the increase in fat cattle is 

 already 70,000 head, and before the close of the year it is esti- 

 mated that the increase at that one port will exceed 200,000 

 head. The increase is much the same at all the other Western 

 shipping ports, and from these shipping ports the New York 

 trade is in the main supplied. 



Last year the receipts of beeves at all the New York city mar- 

 kets slightly exceeded 200,000. The average weekly receipts 

 this year will bring up the aggregate to nearly 300,000, or aa 

 increase of almost a-half. This in a great measure is owing 

 to the abundant harvest of the present season, and to the 

 greater profit to be derived from feeding cattle with Indian 

 corn than by sending the Indian corn to market. Still, 

 300,000 head of beeves is a comparatively small number to be 

 sent to the great commercial emporium of the United States 

 and scarcely invites the opening of a new trade. But it is 

 sufficient for the existing demand, and could be increased in- 

 definitely, and with scarcely any previous notice. The prac- 

 tice of the trade is to sell the cattle in the yards in the out- 

 skirts of the city, to which they are driven on their arrival 

 from the country. Some of the herds are in the hands of 

 drovers and some in the hands of brokers, to whom they have 

 been consigned. The drovers have gathered their herds ia 

 Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, or Pennsyl- 

 vania, and brought them by railway, and usually sell out at 

 once at the market-price. The brokers, like the same class in 

 the grain trade, make advances and exercise their discretion in 

 the sale ; and not a few of them supply the funds for carry- 

 ing on the business. Those who supply the funds not unfre- 

 quently do so in connection with Banking Houses in fair 

 standing, who seek to get their notes in circulation in districts 

 from which they are not likely to return speedily to be re- 

 deemed. 



Taking the average of the entire transactions of a recent 

 week, September 1 8, the rates for beeves at dead weights were : 



First quality, 4i|d. to 5d. 



Medium, i^d. to 4|d. 



Poor quality, SJd. to 4d. 



Poorest quaUty, 3d. to S^d. 



General selling prices, 3|d. to 4|d. 



Average of all sales, 4d. to 4^d. 



One lot of Illinois steers brought £15 to £18. A lot of 

 Ohio and Kentucky steers brought £20. Inferior Iowa and 

 Illinois steers £10 to £12. 



The receipts of milch cows is not large, about 7,000 in the 

 year. The transactions for the week ending September 18th 

 were few, and at irregular prices. For what are termed fancy- 

 cows, as much as £20 was paid. Good cows with calf ranged 

 from £8 to £15, without calf from £7 to £9. Cows in poor 

 condition were dull at £5 and £6. A " trick" complained of 

 is the bringing of cows with strange young calves in the hope 

 of realizing high prices. 



Veal calves and sheep and hogs are received in great num- 

 bers. Heavy and coarse veal selling at 2d. to 2^d. live weight j 

 sheep which would dress at 401b3. 17s. each; and medium 

 grain-fed hogs 4d. to 4|d. dressed. 



These prices, it is scarcely necessary to repeat, are for what 

 are understood to be fat cattle, the poorer beeves being in bad j 

 couditioa from the long journeys they have performed. Nor I 



