1868. | On an Eatraneous Meat-supply. 9 
process. Of the chemical preservative operations we have already 
spoken at length. At present they do not inspire much confidence 
where the object is to preserve meat for long voyages, for if there 
be anywhere in the world a fastidious diner, it is the Englishman 
of every rank. What improvements in these systems may be in- 
troduced concurrently with the production of an improved quality 
of meat abroad we are unable to say, but we would recommend 
those who are practically engaged in the rearing of cattle and 
the preservation of beef to turn their attention to the smoke 
drying and curing processes already in use. In this case also 
the cattle must not be too fat, for the fat decomposes more readily 
than the flesh: and of the curing processes known to us, that 
which appears the most likely to be immediately successful and 
remunerative is the one by which “Hambro’ smoked beef” is 
prepared. This kind of beef is becoming a great delicacy even in 
England; and as the breeders on the Plate have, from their associa- 
tions and connections (many being Germans) peculiar facilities for 
perfecting the process there, where the raw meat has only a nomi- 
nal value, we hope soon to see it sent over in large quantities, and 
of a quality equal to that now imported from Germany. 
These are a few of the numerous devices by which it is sought to 
‘supply our home market with imported meat of a wholesome and 
nutritious description, and the reader will perceive that the resources 
of trade, navigation, art, and science are bemg brought to bear in the 
execution of this all-important object. There is no unmixed evil: 
indeed what we in our ignorance are apt to regard as an evil is often 
designed by Providence as the incentive to exertion and progress ; 
had it not been for the alarm excited by the cattle plague, it is not 
improbable that the vast resources of the River Plate and of our 
own Australian Colonies, to the development of which the energies 
of the adventurous trader and agriculturist are now being directed, 
would have lain dormant for years to come, until perhaps, with an 
increased population, we should have found ourselves reduced to an 
extremity and exposed to fatal dangers which may now be happily 
averted. 
