462 FEEDS AND FEEDING 



only value is as tallow. On the other hand, dairy cattle and also scrubs 

 deposit much fat about the internal organs, and less on the exterior of the 

 body and within the muscular tissues. Fat intimately mingled with the 

 muscular fibers of the lean tissues renders such meat tender, juicy, and 

 toothsome. Placed in separate masses anywhere about the body, and 

 especially within the body cavity, it has but low value. Such storage is 

 doubtless best for animals whose function is milk production, but it is 

 certainly against their highest usefulness for beef. In the above char- 

 acteristic, we have a remarkable example of specialization for a definite 

 purpose. 



722. Quality. Beyond that which can be expressed in figures or stated 

 percentagely lies that indefinable something described by the word 

 "quality" which enters into all objects of barter. No one can compare a 

 bunch of well-fed beef-bred steers with one representing the dairy breeds 

 or natives without being impressed by a difference not measured by the 

 scales. Speaking of the breed tests at the Iowa Station, Wilson 21 writes : 

 "The carcasses of the dairy breeds lacked in thickness of cuts, and the 

 marbling of the fat and lean was not equal to that of the others (beef 

 breeds)." Georgeson wrote after conducting a trial at the Kansas Sta- 

 tion: 22 "The Shorthorns gave the best returns, not simply because the 

 gross weight of their carcasses was greater than that of the scrubs, but 

 also because their meat was esteemed better by experts in the packing- 

 house who were asked to judge of the quality and assign prices. " Of a 

 native steer fed in comparison with others of the beef breeds Shaw 23 

 wrote : ' ' There was a lack of thickness of carcass thruout, the deficiency 

 in the rib and loin being very noticeable, and the absence of what may be 

 termed fleshiness was conspicuous." 



The thick-fleshed cuts from well-finished beef steers command a much 

 higher price on the large markets than do the thin-fleshed cuts, thereby 

 giving to the carcass that furnishes them a marked advantage in the 

 market. In the Iowa trial the carcasses of the beef steers were valued by 

 experts at $1.66 per 100 Ibs. higher than those of the dairy steers. In the 

 Kansas trial the loins of the best Shorthorns were valued 28 per ct. above 

 those of the natives. 



The matter at issue may be illustrated by a condition in the fruit 

 world : No orchardist will hold that the Baldwin apple tree necessarily 

 grows faster than the seedling apple tree, or that it will make wood and 

 fruit on less material from soil and air. Neither will he hold that 

 Baldwin trees necessarily yield more barrels of fruit than seedlings, nor 

 that a given measure of Baldwin apples contains more juice or human 

 food than the same measure of common seedling apples. Fruit growers 

 do rightfully assert, however, that the market wants Baldwin apples and 

 will pay more for them than for common seedling fruit, due to the fact 

 that their quality is generally far superior, and that from this judgment 

 of the market there is no appeal. Beef cattle have been bred for meat 



21 Iowa Bui. 20. 22 Kan. Bui. 51. 23 Ont. Agr. Col. Rpt, 1892. 



