64 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



After talking with most of the retailers of my acquaintance 

 on the subject, I have found that, almost without exception, 

 they acknowledge the inferiority of the beef now in market 

 from the West. A few have not given attention to the matter, 

 and some are so young in the business and in years, that they 

 are ignorant of the true type of the beef of our fathers. 



I will venture the assertion that any city boy or man, who 

 is blessed with a discriminating taste, will at once discover 

 the difference between home-fattened beef and Chicago beef. 

 I have had some of the latter which my dog could not be 

 persuaded to eat, and some so much worse than that, that it 

 has been buried in the earth to prevent the creation of a 

 nuisance in the neighborhood. 



This has come about in this way. The retailer has, most 

 of the time, pieces of meat, never inviting to his customers, 

 which lie in his refrigerator or on his bench, often shifted 

 from one place to another, until at length, to save them from 

 utter loss, and thinking that a strong brine might conceal 

 their age or renew their youth, he has transferred them to 

 the corning vat and sold them for corned beef. They deceive 

 the best of us, while in the market ; but once put them into 

 the kettle and attempt to cook them, the deception vanishes. 

 They speak for themselves, and declare, in never-to-be-mis- 

 taken language, that between themselves and the human 

 family there is no possible affinity. 



I could cite facts in regard to this Western beef as now 

 delivered to us, which, while startling, would only go to show 

 that under the most favorable conditions our beef is not what 

 is good, or at least the best, for consumption. 



I shall not attempt to explain the chemical changes that 

 take place in this Western beef after it is first frozen. I 

 leave that to another occasion and to the investigations of 

 an expert scientist, and would be glad, for curiosity's sake, 

 to have written down, for my rapt contemplation, the chem- 

 ical history of some beef which has fallen under my observa- 

 tion. 



But, you say, " Why this condemnation of our food, which 

 must be our subsistence, whether or no?" 



Can you suggest a remedy? Is there any help for us? 



I am here to make some suggestions, which are the result 



