12 ANIMAL FOOD SUPPLIES 



and the areas of agricultural land available for food production 

 were much greater in proportion to the population. Moreover, 

 the continental peoples seem to have been accustomed to living at a 

 lower standard at all events, to have consumed less animal food- 

 stuffs per head than the British. It is not, therefore, surprising 

 to find that till the last quarter of the 19th century continental 

 countries were more agricultural than industrial, and that some of 

 them, notably Germany and the Netherlands, had surplus grain 

 and meat and dairy produce for export, for which Britain was the 

 most considerable customer. 



During the period under review North America and Australia 

 were settled by Europeans and developed by them. The former 

 was very rich in game which supplied an important part of the meat 

 diet of the early settlers, as it had done exclusively for the Red 

 Indians befcre them. European breeds of sheep and cattle had 

 been introduced at an early date by the Spaniards, and later on 

 by the English colonists. These multiplied rapidly under the 

 favourable natural conditions, but the quality standard seems to 

 have been low. However, by 1840 the ratio of meat-producing 

 animals to the population was such that the per capita 

 consumption of meat was extraordinarily high higher than it has 

 ever been since that time, according to American authorities. 1 

 Owing to the much greater rapidit}^ of development, it would appear 

 that that part of North American occupied by the United vStates 

 has, during the course of the 19th century alone, passed through 

 the various stages observed in Central Europe between the early 

 Middle Ages and the present time, in the matter of supplies of food- 

 stuffs. The earlier phase of comparative abundance of meat, 

 with considerable quantities of game, has given place to that of 

 comparative shortage, characterised by the absence of game except 

 as a luxury ; but the earlier period which in the case of Europe is 

 now distant about five centuries, is distant in North America less 

 than one century. In Australia, also, though game was never 

 very abundant, there were pasture lands available for sheep and 

 cattle, once the fringe of settlement crossed the eastern dividing 

 range. The pastoral industry advanced rapidly during the 19th 

 century, owing chiefly to favourable natural conditions, but partly 

 also indirectly to the gold discoveries which caused a number of 

 miners and adventurers to turn to the easiest form of agriculture, 

 namely, the pastoral, when the " rushes " were over. In the third 

 quarter of the 19th century meat, especially mutton, was extraor- 

 dinarily plentiful and cheap, and was, in fact, a sort of by-product 

 from the production of wool and tallow for export. The per capita 

 consumption of meat was enormous. 2 The introduction of 

 refrigeration has altered the position in Australia by relieving the 



1 U.S. Dept. Agric., Bureau of Statistics, Bulletin 55, p. 70. 



2 Even at the present time the estimated meat consumption per head in 

 Australia is more than double that of Great Britain, but the consumption of 

 fish and of cheese per head is much lower. 



