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MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



ment of the country, and the promotioD of in- 

 dustry and the arts of peace, and like a terrapin 

 he says, I have no power, and draws himself in- 

 to his shell ; or if he speak, it is only to denounce 

 all such useful and peaceful enterprises as odi- 

 ous monopolies and contrivances of the Devil, 

 and the enemies of the individual right of every 

 man to do just what he pleases. But, when 

 they are done, if you ask him to pay what an in- 

 dividual would have to pay for the same service, 

 he abuses the directors as extortioners, Jews 

 them down to the last cent, instead of being 

 glad in this way, indirectly at least, to give them 

 a helping hand ; and after all, when his warlike 

 machinery is to be put in operation, if you did 

 not give him the use of these very works (which 

 he denounced and refused to assist in construct- 

 ing), to give tenfold efficiency to his man-kill- 

 ing operations, he would pres.s, seize upon vi- 

 et armis, and use your road and your canal, just 

 as the commander of an army, with his long- 

 sword and life commission, would press any 

 farmer's horse or wagon into the public service. 

 Truly, farmers are a wonderful vigilant and self- 

 redressing class of people, and Uncle Sam the 

 meekest and most self denying hater of monop- 

 olies under the canopy of a righteous heaven ! 

 The system of selling their cattle is the last 

 act in the drama. For this purpose the grazier 

 calls in the assistance of his " agent " in the 

 large towns. Here, too, is another of the 

 branches of business or divisions of labor, cut 

 out for mutual convenience, but, as usual, at the 

 farmers' or graziers' or countrymen's expense ! 

 His agent is kept constantly advised by his 

 manager of the approach of his cattle, as they 

 come "marching on their winding way," so that, 

 were these agents to meet together daily, and 

 compare notes, they could tell almost to an hour 

 how many cattle would anive on any given day. 

 Having arrived in the out-skirts of the town 

 with his cattle, the grazier or the manager puts 

 them under the control of the agent, giving the 

 necessary attendance until they are sold. The 

 agent is henceforward, and from the beginning, 

 the only man known to the butcher or the gra- 

 zier. The recognized go between-both. He 

 gets from the grazier one dollar a head for sell- 

 ing, but the countryman, in this protracted 

 business, is not yet done paying — another paring 

 is to be taken off of his apple — another class of 

 employees is to be supported. The collector of 

 the agent's bills against the butchers, is to be 

 paid a commis.sion of one per cent, by the gra- 

 zier, when he comes to settle with his agent. — 

 This is a business which could not so well be 

 done by either grazier or agent, because these 

 bills must be collected at the butchers' stalls, 

 and it makes a separate business of itself When 

 collected, the proceeds are paid over, not to the 

 grazier, who knows nothing of the butcher or 

 -(12411 



collector, but to his only trustee, the selling 

 agent. He deposits the amount in Bank — prob- 

 ably the '• Butchers' and Drovers' Bank," and 

 checks for the amount, or if, as is natural, the 

 grazier, as soon as his cattle are sold, wishes to 

 depart, the collector throws his note to the 

 amount of his bills against the butchers into the 

 bank, where it is discounted, another thin slice 

 being taken from the countryman's apple in the 

 shape of bank discount. These bank officers 

 make another class of goers between the pro 

 ducer and the consumer, their pay being taken 

 finally out of the former, in about the same enor- 

 mous proportion that the landed interest pays 

 over every other interest of society, because it 

 either does not know it or knows not how, to re- 

 dress itself 



The last of the Western cattle arrive in, New- 

 York about the 1st of August, when they are 

 driven out of the market by the grass-fed herds 

 of more neighboring regions. The cost of road- 

 expenses of a drove of 100 head from Kentucky, 

 is about $1,500. Some of the latter droves come 

 in on grass at a less expense, but, as before in- 

 timated, the decline or " drift " is greater than 

 when fed on hay and corn, and the beef not so 

 good. 



Such is an outline of the cattle trade from the 

 West to the East, varying of course, in its re- 

 sults, according to distance, state of the market, 

 &c. 



On this, the 20th May, thebeefmarketof New- 

 York is considered to be uncommonly lively — 

 the best bullocks bringing an average of $58 a 

 head, or a httle above 7 — about 7| a pound. — 

 The supply has been for some weeks past, al- 

 most wholly from the West. The demand of 

 this market is about 1300 head a week, or 70,000 

 a year. 



We conclude this hasty sketch with the fol- 

 lowing quotation from a late Report on the 

 American Provision Trade with England, suppo- 

 sing that the whole subject may possess some 

 interest for our readers in both countries : and 

 will only add that the common price of corn in 

 Kentucky, is 75 cents a ban-el of five bushels. 

 It is not easy to discern all the effects of this no- 

 blest production of the earth, on questions of 

 agricultural economy : 



" It is natural that our Provision trade with 

 America, after three years' working, should be 

 fully developed. It is not quite so with regard 

 to swine products. It was at first expected that 

 bacon and hams would be sent forward freely. 

 Such has not been the case, and the expectation 

 of a trade cultivation in these articles is much 

 abridged. A greater business was looked for 

 in barreled pork, but the value of tills article in 

 America being nearly equivalent to that of Irish 

 or Hambro', importations have been in a great 

 measure precluded thereby : saying nothing 

 about the di.sparity m quality, the American 

 proving much inferior to the other two. How- 

 ever, tliere have been some good lots of Amer 



