PRODUCTION IN RELATION TO CONSUMPTION 261 



product without value in animal industries. It appears, therefore, 

 that a certain quantit}' of meat is necessarily produced incidentally 

 from the animals from which these indispensable articles are 

 derived. 



The question arises at this point as to how far the production of 

 wool, leather, and hair (in the case of goats) has been sacrificed to 

 the production of meat in the breeding of animals. In the course 

 of the past two centuries this has been done in more ways than one. 



In earlier times, in Europe, at any rate, live stock were probably 

 more numerous in proportion to the population than now, but were 

 inferior as judged by modern standards. However, such inferior 

 stock were perhaps nearly as efficient on an average in the produc- 

 tion of wool, leather, hair, etc., as the modern animal. 1 With the 

 increase of population and the progress of civilisation, meat came 

 to be in greater demand in proportion to supply than the materials 

 under consideration were. This was especially the case when the 

 growth of overseas commerce in the 18th century and subsequently 

 enabled supplies of raw cotton to be brought to Europe. Since 

 that time increasing supplies, not only of cotton, but also of hides 

 and wool have been derived from distant sources. It should be 

 noted that until the last quarter of the 19th century, when re- 

 frigerated transport was introduced, wool and hides were the leading 

 animal products exported from the vast areas of pasture lands in 

 North and South America and Australasia. European stock-raisers 

 have accordingly aimed chiefly at meat or milk production and 

 have given other considerations a diminishing share of attention. 

 Cattle have been used less and less for working purposes. Great 

 improvements have been made in the breeds of sheep, mainly for 

 meat production ; even during the last half century crossbreds 

 have been increasingly substituted for pure wool sheep. Through- 

 out the world animals are being constantly slaughtered for food 

 at an earlier average age, cattle for veal and baby beef, and sheep 

 for lamb. Moreover, the goat, which is mainly a skin and hair- 

 producing animal, is becoming relegated more and more to the semi- 

 arid tracts of the world unsuitable for agriculture or for rearing 

 other animals, and incidentally its importance for food purposes 

 among European populations is diminishing. 



In another way, also, there has been a conscious change in the 

 direction of meat production at the expense of the joint products 

 above mentioned. Of all domestic animals the pig is most essen- 

 tially a meat producer, being, in fact, the only animal that is bied 

 exclusively for meat and meat products. During the last century 



1 As before noted, the number of animals alone is not a sufficient guide. 

 In earlier times animals were kept longer so that the turnover was smaller 

 in proportion. This would be favourable to wool production, but unfavour- 

 able to that of leather. During the last two centuries sheep have, on the 

 whole, been bred more for meat and less for wool, which counteracts to some 

 extent the gain in wool arising from the increased weight of the fleece in 

 specialised wool sheep. 



