THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



creased from 182,756 in the year 1880 to 

 331,722, in 1896 in numbers and from 

 $13,344,195 in 1880 to $30,603,796 in 1896 

 in value, being an increase of 129.3 per 

 cent. The average value of cattle ex- 

 ported has thereby increased from $73 in 

 1880 to .892 in 1896. The Department re- 

 port goes on to say, "This apparently 

 high value is the result of various causes. 

 In the first place, only the best and heavi- 

 est cattle are exported, usually weighing 

 from 1,300 to 1.700 pounds each and they 

 command a much higher price than th 

 average," But this 30,000,000 and odd 

 dollars of live cattle export is a small item 

 in comparison to the dressed meat and 

 canned meat, butter and cheese that go 

 across the water every year. The in- 

 creased value of the exported cattle proves 

 however, that the better grade and the 

 better fed the higher the price and greater 

 the profit, And this leads me to the con- 

 sideration of another phase of the subject. 

 The exportation of dressed meat will 

 henceforth be enormously augmented and 

 the demand proportionately increased as 

 Armour & Co. have inaugurated a "daily 

 service" of dressed beef shipments from 

 New York to London to furnish American 

 beef to the English markets direct' from 

 the refrigerator cars without the interven- 

 tion of wholesale houses or special agents. 

 Kefrigerator space has already been en- 

 gaged in the White Star, the Cunard, and 

 other trans-Atlantic steamships to furnish 

 the daily service and refrigerator cars have 

 also been secured in England and in the 

 United States so that from now there will 

 be a continual stream of American dressed 

 beef amounting to hundreds of tons daily 

 rushing across the country to the sea board 

 and from there by fast steamers over the 

 ocean to England and thence to every 

 market in the British Isles, and as I have 

 before remarked the service will create a 

 ne\v and large demand for American 

 dressed beef. 



In this examination it may be proper to 

 note our progress in the manufacture and 

 exportation of butter and cheese. In ad- 



dition to our large exportation of ordinary 

 gilt edge cheese that is annually increasing 

 and now amounts to about $4,500,000 a 

 year, we have advanced to the point of ex- 

 cellence where we are manufacturing a 

 high grade foreign cheese for exportation 

 to the amount of about $15,000,000 a year, 

 including Roquefort, Camembert, Gar- 

 ganzola, Stittan, Cheshire, Swiss, and 

 limburger. 



Our exportation of butter is also in- 

 creasing from year to year, and now 

 amounts to about $4.750,000 annually. 

 And as strange as it may appear to the 

 casual reader there are tons and tons of 

 poultry, turkeys, geese, ducks, and chick- 

 ens, sent across the Atlantic to feed the 

 hungry in the good old mother country, 

 the British- American ranchers so manage 

 their affairs as to make everything con- 

 tribute to the general revenue on the com- 

 mendable principle, "Take care of your 

 nickels and your dollars will take care of 

 themselves," 



Recurring to the advantage of graded 

 stock all will admit that for beef, a 1,000 

 pound animal is worth much more in pro- 

 portion to its size than a 500 pound ani- 

 mal, because the bone and offal of a steer 

 above 500 pounds do not increase in the 

 same ratio with the meat, or anything ap- 

 proximating it and beyond that the meat 

 of the larger, better graded and well fed 

 animal is better and worth more than that 

 of the common range steer that has had 

 to rustle for a living. Our American 

 stockmen began to realize these facts 

 many years ago, and year by year they 

 have devoted more attention to the grade 

 and grading of cattle, until now we rank 

 all other cattle countries. A few years 

 ago the British government sent a special 

 cattle commissioner to all foreign coun- 

 tries to- examine and report his findings. 

 As the result of his investigations he re- 

 ported that the American cattle as a 

 whole ranked well and that a particular 

 herd in Ohio excelled all others in the 

 world. Since that time herds in other 

 states have been so improved as to rank 



