FRESH-MEAT SHIPMENT TO EUROPE. 



For many years there has been a search for new outlets to American 

 meat-products. Numbers in proportion to population have not been 

 maintained, but size and quality have both been improved, especially in 

 beeves, since the advent of the short-horn. Shipments of cured and 

 pickled beef, as well as of hams, pork, and lard, have largely aug- 

 mented in bulk and value; but growers and shippers have not been 

 satisfied, craving the higher prices of prime fresh beef, or the saving 

 of heavy transportation bills by the processes of concentration. Nu- 

 merous patents have been granted for extract of beef or other cooked 

 and canned products convenient for safe and cheap shipment. The 

 results have not been altogether satisfactory, as the profits only war- 

 ranted the use of cheap beeves in Texas. Enterprising shippers 

 believed it possible to send abroad our best corn-fed beef, by the use 

 of refrigerating processes, in our fastest steamships, and present it in 

 the principal markets of Great Britain in perfect soundness of condi- 

 tion, in competition on its own merits with English beef of famous 

 repute. 



• Little more than a year ago a pioneer experiment was made in New 

 York with such success as to command a constant extension of the 

 business, until the weekly shipments have reached an average of fifteen 

 hundred beeves, and Philadelphia and other cities have inaugurated 

 similar enterprises. 



The success of the experiment has caused a sensation in England 

 among producers and consumers. The Liverpool Daily News says that 

 the quality of American beef is in no way inferior to that of British pro- 

 duction, and can be sold at 2d. to 3d. per pound lower retail rates. About 

 600 tons weekly are now shipped, mostly going to London, and taken by 

 west-end clubs and other institutions. A portion is sent to Birmingham, 

 where it has reduced the price of English beef 2d. per pound, and to 

 other towns. In Manchester and Liverpool a combination of butchers 

 has prevented its extensive consumption. The Queen, the Prince of 

 Wales, the lord mayor, the governor of the Bank of England, and other 

 persons of influence have indorsed the quality of this meat, and the 

 butchers themselves acknowledge it to be " good, sound meat." Its 

 price is a further commendation, being Gd. per pound. 



The Agricultural Gazette of Loudon, of January 2[), 1877, has the 

 following items of wholesale and retail in-ices : 



On Wednesday last the City of Richmond arrived at Liverpool with 808 quarters of 

 American beef, consigned to Messrs. Archer &. Malthouse, of the Central Meat-Market, 

 London ; G50 quarters Avere sold in the largo towns iu the north of England, and 158 

 quarters in the London market. The prices realized for the whole, by the carcass, waa 

 bid. per pound. 



The sale of American beef in Dublin on Saturday waa very considerable. The 

 butchers' shops in which it was sold iu different parts of the city were regularly be- 

 sieged by purchasers. The beef was sold at Hd. <'w lOrf. per pound. Next week several 

 shops for the sale of beef will open in the city. A panic has almost been caused by 

 the sale of the beef, which is pronounced better than home produce. 



An English member of Parliament, Mr. Barclay, has been discussing 

 before his constituents the probability of disastrous results of comi)etition 



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