PRESH-MEAT SHIPMENT TO EUEOPE. 3l3 



of American with British meat-production. He admits that it is of good 

 quality, tells where it is produced, and recites the advantages possessed 

 in the great plains and mountains, from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, 

 for growing young cattle in preparation for feeding in more eastern 

 localities. He deems the situation somewhat grave, but concludes that 

 the ability, perseverance, and frugality of British farmers may overcome 

 an advantage of a penny a pound in price. He says : 



I adhere to the opinion I expressed at Forfar, that if they -were allowed full scope 

 and liberty in dealing with the land and crops on it in such a manner as they should 

 find most profitable, and if they, in addition, were fully secured for that capital which 

 it is absolutely necessary must be invested in laud to produce the best results, I have 

 no doubt they would meet the competition from any quarter of the world. 



Eelative to the difference in price of British and American beef, he 

 is thus reported : 



Before iiroceeding further he wished to correct what seemed to be a misapprehension 

 in regard to the price which farmers in this country were getting for beef. "As they 

 were all aware, the farmer sold his animal alive at a price per cwt. of the carcass 

 dead, and although he appeared to get a high price per pound for the beef, there had 

 to be deducted from it, in comparing it with the price of American, the value of the 

 hide, tallow, ofial, &c. On looking to the price of meat in the London dead-meat 

 market, he found that for the best beef it varied from 4s. Gd. to 5s. 2d. per stone of 8 

 pounds, the average being about 4s. lOd. i^er stone, or 7^d. per pound ; but from'that a half 

 penny fell to be deducted for carriage to London, so that the price which a farmer 

 actually got for his beef was little, if anything, over Gld. per pound, or Id. more per 

 pound than the wholesale i^rice of American. Of course a difference of Id. per pound 

 is a very serious one. He would, therefore, recur to the point from which he started. 

 Was the importer able to bring the beef to this country and sell it at that price with 

 profit ? And, if so, did it pay the producer, and would the supply be likely to continue 

 or increase ? 



He found from figures that the cost of bringing across the beef, including freight 

 and other charges, was from £7 10s. to £8 per ton, so that, added to the price at New 

 York, would bring the cost of the beef to 528. 6d. or 53s. per cwt., which would leave 

 the whole of the tallow, ofi"al, &c., as a profit to the shipper; and he believed that 

 would be considered a very handsome profit indeed, and sufiiciont to meet certain con- 

 tingencies which of course had to be encountered in every trade. Apart from the 

 figures ho had given, the continuous increase of the trade, and the fact that one line 

 of steamers after another was making accommodation for carrying on the trade, 

 showed that they had confidence that it could be conducted at a profit and was likely 

 to continue. 



The next imj>ortant question was. Could the farmers in America produce beef so as 

 to be able to sell it at the price he had indicated in Chicago ? Before directly going 

 into that matter, he would point out the new state of things which within the pas6 

 few years had begun to obtain in America. For many years in Texas and other States 

 in America there had been an "unlimited number of cattle, but the quality of them, 

 with a few exceptions, was poor, and would not suit the English market, although it 

 suited, to a very large extent, the American public. In fact, there was not in that 

 country a very large demand for the first quality of beef so long as the secondary 

 kind could be obtained at almost nominal prices. But now this new state of matters 

 obtained, that the farmer in the United States and in Canada could get what he con- 

 sidered a very good price for the higher quality of beef ; and the difficulty which had 

 arisen now was, where was he to find his supiJly of young cattle for fattening? He 

 could get any quantity of Texan cattle, but they were not very fat. After remarking 

 that the original settlers in America were generally men of limited capital, and that 

 they naturally, therefore, turned to the cultivation of the cereals as the easiest way to 

 get money out of the land, and that it would take time to develop the breeding of 

 cattle, Mr. Barclay went on to say that in many of the older States the raising of 

 stock had been developed to a certain extent, and that in Kentucky and Pennsylvania 

 there were farms as well farmed and fenced as any in this country, and that in the 

 former States there were some of the finest herds of short-horns. 



The London Live-Stock Journal admits that importation of meat from 

 America is "the chief topic of conversation at the farmstead, at the 

 markets ordinary, and in all places where agriculturists do congregate, 

 and is the new element introduced into the stock-breeders' calculations; " 

 also that the new year opens with " an appreciable disturbance of the 



