REPORT OP THE STATISTICIAN. 211 



the amount of veal marketed. ' The veal trade is annually increasing, 

 but the supplies are almost entirely for city consumption. The greatest 

 supply is during May and June, when the prices run lowest. At the 

 opeoing of 1870 prices ranged from $4 to $10.50 per cental, but gradu- 

 ally fell to $3.50 © $7 during the midsummer, after which a gradual 

 rise was noted, which continued till the end of the year, the closing 

 quotations being $1 ® $9.50. 



Cattle products. — Barreled beef: Receipts, 103,205 barrels and tierces, 

 against 45,590 in 1875 ; exports, 119,778 barrels and tierces, against 

 80,881. Butter : Eeceipts, 1,300,475 packages, against 1,084,300 in 1875; 

 exports, 107,151 centals, against 42,341 in 1875. Cheese : Receipts, 

 2,184,288 packages, against 2,321,705 in 1875 ; exports, ^49,050 centals, 

 against 921,137 in 1875. Tallozv : Receipts, 07,448 packages, against 

 20,779 in 1875 ; exports, 585,030 centals, against 414,309 in 1875. 



Sheep. — The number of sheep and lambs marketed during 1870 was 

 1,247,820, an increase of 19,290 over 1875. Sheep in the New York 

 market have two elements of value, one in the weight and market-price 

 of their lieeces, and one in the quantity of mutton in the carcass. 

 During the early part of the year, when wool was low and of dull sale, 

 sheep were not very profitable stock for dealers or producers. The mut- 

 ton demand seemed to be subject to very rigid limitations, so that when 

 a surplus was thrown upon the market it could not be easily disposed 

 of by any ordinary reduction of prices. Lambs are usually marketed 

 about the middle of April, the first arrivals being sold at 15 cents per 

 pound, or, without weighing, at $8 or $9 per head. The arrivals of full- 

 grown sheep are unshorn up to May 1, after which they are mostly de- 

 nuded of wool. In 1870 prices during the first four months ranged from 

 $4 to $8.50 per cental. They then began to decline, ranging during sum- 

 mer and fall from $3.50 to $6.50, and closing the year at $4 ®"$7.50. 

 An attempt was made in a small way to create a demand for American 

 mutton in the British markets. The refrigerating-steamers engaged in 

 the beef export began toward the close of the year to stow sheep car- 

 casses in the smaller spaces of the cooling-rooms, and thus about 

 2,000 dressed sheep were sent across the water. In this way it is hoped 

 that a considerable mutton export will be inaugurated, which may grow 

 into a permanent trade. The sheep traffic during the year was, on the 

 whole, quite unsatisfactory. 



Sheep products.— Wool ; The receipts of wool during 1870 were as fol- 

 lows : Foreign carpet, 40,110 bales, equal to 16,221,842 pounds ; foreign 

 clothing, 3,188 bales, equal to 1,511,817 pounds ; California, 27,494 bales, 

 equal to 15,121,700 pounds ; Texas, 11,451 bales, equal to 3,435,300 

 pounds ; New Orleans, 21,431 bales, equal to 0,429,300 pounds ; other 

 southern, 1,454 bales, equal to 541,200 pounds; interior and western, 

 19,181 bales, equal to 3,830,200 pounds; total, 124,309 bales, equal to 

 47,097,459 pounds ; total for 1875, 129,335 bales, equal to 49,924.210 

 pounds ; total for 1874, 123,246 bales, equal to 40,583,881 pounds. The 

 exports are insignificant. The stock left over at the close of 1870 was 

 7,912,000 pounds ; of which 1,108,000 pounds v^ere foreign, and the re- 

 mainder domestic. 



iiiicine. — The swine trade, during 1876, continued to manifest the same 

 declining tendencies which had characterized it during 1875. The total 

 number marketed was 1,282,171, a decrease of 100,370. Fov many years 

 the number of marketed animals showed a tendency to increase, reach- 

 ing the maximum, 1,985,389, in 1873; each subsequent year has pre- 

 sented a falling off. The preparation of hog products for foreign ship- 

 ment has been annually i^rosecuted on an increasing scale at various 

 points in the West, especially Chicago, interfering with, the iiye-hog trade 



