100 



PRODUCTION 



ments in the breeds of such live-stock as cattle and pigs. 1 It will 

 be observed that the total exports of meat products and of live 

 animals in these classes is small, as shown in the table above ; and 

 the general conclusion seems to be that there is no great likelihood 

 of much increase in the future. 



There is, however, a distinct likelihood that with improvements 

 in railway transport, such as are now in hand, poultry and egg- 

 production will increase greatly and lead to a larger exportable 

 surplus ; especially if cheap supplies of cereals, such as wheat, barley 

 and maize can be imported from abroad or brought from Northern 

 China, as some relief to the somewhat overtaxed agricultural re- 

 sources of the densely peopled areas of Central and Southern China. 



China seems to be well adapted to poultry-farming, and has, in 

 fact, given several breeds to the world. 2 The cheap domestic rural 

 labour of the Southern Provinces gives the country an essential 

 advantage in this industry, where an abundance of attention 

 not necessarily skilled is required. 



In the production and export of animal feedstuffs the Chinese 

 Republic, including Manchuria, occupies an important position. 

 The growth of oil-crushing industries in Europe and North America 

 has given rise to considerable exports of ground-nuts from China 

 Proper and of soya beans from Manchuria. Both of these articles 

 are imported mainly in the raw state, and are used for making 

 refined oils for the margarine and soap trades, thereby relieving 

 the world's butter-producing and tallow-producing resources to 

 some extent, while the cake by-product makes a valuable con- 

 centrated feedstuff for cattle. The exports in recent years are 

 shown in the table below (in 1,000 tons). 



It will be observed that these exports rose rapidly during the 

 four years under review, and that in 1911 they amounted together 

 to more than 1J million tons. If the proportion of feed materials 

 available from the beans and the various kinds of seeds is estimated 

 at 50%, then the total equivalent weight of animal feedstuffs 

 exported from China in the year 1911 was over 1 million tons. 

 This quantity, if led entirely tc meat-producing animals, would, 



1 U.S. Daily Commerce Reports, Jan. 23rd, 1911. " Apparently there is 

 little chance of improving the breeds of cattle in Southern China. Foreign 

 stock is practically unknown, and in any event at present is unattainable by 

 the Chinese farmers." 



2 Such, for example, as Pekin and Mandarin ducks and Cochin and Lanshan 

 fowls. 



