SECRETARY'S REPORT. 213 



perous years, find a market at Manchester and Leeds, in 

 Lancashire, that the importation from the continent is small. 



The cattle coming into market this year, too, are said to be 

 of excellent quality, both the crosses and the pure breeds. 



Tiie consumption of London, always enormous, is, of course, 

 largely increased this year by the thousands of strangers attend- 

 ing the International Exhibition. This would have sent prices 

 up, had it not been for the distress among the cotton manu- 

 factu^'ing districts. 



Here are some Irish cattle. A part of them, about one-third, 

 show evident signs of crosses with the Shorthorns, Devons or 

 Herefords. This lot is " fairish to middling," but it is said that 

 notwithstanding the crosses, their weight will fall considerably 

 below the average of years. Ireland has sent into London in 

 six months two thousand five hundred and forty-five head. 



Those are from Scotland. She has sent in nine thousand 

 seven hundred and ninety-four head in the first six months of 

 this year. Four thousand of these were crosses and about five 

 thousand pure breeds, the former in magnificent condition on 

 account of the great abundance of grass and the great quantity 

 of hay cut last year. 



From Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Northampton, about 

 fifteen hundred Shorthorns have been received in the same six 

 months, and it is said the farmers are holding on to large quan- 

 tities on account of the abundance of food and the comparatively 

 low prices. 



But there is a curious lot from Spain. Tiiis numbers five 

 hundred head, large and well formed, but it is said they " cut 

 up badly," with a small quantity of fat inside. They bring but 

 from $100 to $130 a head, a small inducement to send any 

 more of the same sort, for, taking out commissions, freight, &c., 

 there cannot be much left. 



Among the sheep, many come from Holland, but it is said 

 they do not equal those brought from there in 18G0 and 1861. 

 The prices rule lower than for the well fed English sheep. 

 The best Downs are bringing about fifteen cents a pound. 

 The wool clip this year, in England, Ireland and Scotland, is 

 said to have been the largest and best on record. There are 

 enormous quantities of wool from the colonics, nearly a hun- 

 dred thousand bales, now on hand. The production and profit 



