380 THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



Pork Trade of the West, 1854-55. 



THE Cincinnati Price Current furnishes the following estimate of the pork trade of the 

 West for 1854-65: The following table shows the number of hogs packed in the principal 

 pork-raising districts during the packing season of 1853-54, and 1864-56: 



1853-54. 1854-55. 



Ohio 718,650 671,165 



Tennessee 50,880 6,000 



Indiana 601,820 505,830 



Kentucky 502,925 337,799 



1863-54. 4 . 1864-55. 



Illinois 344,047 413,916 



Missouri 130,025 128,261 



Wisconsin 59,900 39,272 



Detroit, Mich 7,500 5,000 



Iowa 48,060 ......... 102,131 | Buffalo, N. Y 8,000 15,000 



Grand total 2,473,807 2,124,404 



Showing a deficiency in 1854-55 of 463,066 hogs. 



The average weight of the hogs packed in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee, in 

 1853-54, was 208 Ibs. ; in 1854-65, 192 Ibs. In other States, the average in the same years 

 was 218 Ibs. Taking these figures as the average, the crop, reduced to pounds, compares 

 as follows: 



1853-54. 1854-55. 



Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee 391,926,200 273,502,845 



OtherStates 128,515,796 153,486,980 



520,445,996 426,989,825 



Showing a deficiency of 103,457,171 Ibs., being a trifle over 20 per cent. The increase in 

 pounds last year over the preceding year's crop was 22 per cent. The product of this 

 season is, therefore, 20 per cent, less than that of 1853-64, and 2 J per cent, greater than that 

 of 1852-63. 



According to the census returns of 1840, there were in the United States 26,301,293 swine; 

 of 1850, there were 30,354,213 ; showing an increase of 4,052,920. The present number may 

 be estimated at 32,000,000, which, at $5 each, would be worth $160,000,000. 



The average annual production of lard in the United States is estimated at ninety-six mil- 

 lions of pounds. Of this amount, twenty millions are shipped from Cincinnati. England 

 and Cuba take more lard of us than all the rest of the world. Each of these countries buy 

 over eight millions of pounds. 



Commerce in Animals, and Consumption of Animal Food. 



HERETOFORE we have known very nearly the number of animals raised in the United 

 States, but we have not known the number and weight of animals actually consumed in the 

 country. But this fact is very desirable, and will prove very useful. It is well known that 

 the cattle, as well as the hog trade, furnishes a very large portion of the exchanges of the 

 country, and hence the question of how much, where, and when animal food is consumed, 

 has a direct relation to the financial as well as commercial concerns of the country. The 

 progress of statistics, however, gradually furnishes the materials to show this and all similar 

 problems. The great difficulty is to find a unit of measurement for the consumption of cattle 

 and hogs. In the cattle trade, we know that the great cities of the country are the main 

 purchasers of cattle, insomuch that what enters into general commerce is a very small amount 

 of what is consumed in the large towns. With hogs it is something different, for an immense 

 amount of pork and lard enter into general commerce for exportation, especially to southern 

 latitudes, and for the navies and armies of the world. 



At present we shall confine ourselves to the supply and consumption of cattle and sheep as 

 food ; in other words, beef and mutton. For the consumption of beef we want a unit. It 

 might have been furnished by the statistics of Smithfield Market, London, but we are not 

 aware that they have been kept and recorded. The New York market, however, is a still 

 better test, for the whole of our population are meat-eaters. The aggregate number of 

 cattle, sheep, and calves consumed in New York City, including Brooklyn, is as follows: 

 cattle, 154,000; sheep and lambs, 470,000. We know very nearly the average weight of 

 these animals, and the population by whom they are consumed. The average weight of the 



