BEEF FATTENING. 65 



of much thought and inquny, and which I offer not as a 

 developed and patented scheme, but rather as food for your 

 consideration, and perhaps tending tp lead to some useful 

 and practicalsolution of the question as to how we may he 

 able to have wholesome and nutritious beef for consumption . 



I will say at this point, that the first thing that attracted 

 my attention to any remedy for the evil I have referred to 

 was the recital to me of certain facts relating to the disposi- 

 tion of unmarketable cattle brought to Brighton from Chi- 

 cago. 



It appeared that a gentleman in this county, possessed of 

 considerable pasture land, has been for some years in the 

 habit of buying at Brighton these unmarketable cattle, that 

 is, cattle that arrived in a bruised and somewhat diseased 

 condition, and driving them to his pastures for a few weeks 

 pasturing. That the enterprise had been lucrative to him- 

 self, and that he was thereby enabled to furnish fat and rich 

 meat, which commanded the best price. 



On reflection it occurred to me that if private enterprise 

 could succeed in this business, capital might be invested to 

 good advantage on a lars^er scale. 



On further inquiry I found that there were others in the 

 same business on a limited scale, but with uniform success. 

 Further inquiry satisfied me that this enterprise must be an 

 important one, and that beef so produced will command the 

 l)est price in the market and would, so far as it could be pro- 

 duced, supplant the inferior quality. 



These conclusions led next to the inquiry. Can grazing be 

 found for cattle for our home markets ? 



If the business is lucrative on a small scale, ingenuity and 

 enterprise can certainly carry it to the limit of our capacity 

 for grazing the cattle. Every one will admit that, I believe. 



Eemember Mr. Eichthofen says, "Land is too dear to 

 make the business of raising cattle (in the East) profitable, 

 and it pays the farmer better to turn his attention to the cul- 

 tivation of cereals and vegetables." 



Perhaps he was not meaning our New England land ; 

 if he was, let us remember that when the great West was 

 opened for cattle-raising, and our farmers mostly withdrew 

 their cattle herds from the hill-tops, they did not turn their 



