THE CALL OF THE LAND 



will, no doubt, in the course of a few years, 

 enable us to keep alive and to fit for the 

 market thousands of cattle now carried off 

 by disease. 



Improvement is perhaps even more tell- 

 ing in modes of feeding stock, a given 

 amount of food being made to go a greater 

 way than formerly. I must not give away 

 secrets, but may remark that Challenger 

 certainly owed his victory in large part to 

 feeding, which you will believe on being 

 told that he was one-eighth Holstein, no 

 doubt a considerable handicap on him as a 

 flesh maker. 



The causes tending to diminish beef pro- 

 duction are, then, as we saw at the outset: 

 The ruin of much free pasture; afforesta- 

 tion; homesteading, favored by irrigation, 

 by afforestation, by the creation of ponds, 

 by thorough culture, and by the fuller set- 

 tlement of rainfall areas; and lastly the 

 great spread of the dairy industry. 



Over against these deterrents on beef 

 growth, we reviewed next the forces in- 

 uring to the increase of beef production. 



1 66 



