BEEF FATTENING. 67 



curing the best quality of butter, cheese, fruit, eggs, poultry 

 and vegetables. Can we afford to live on poor beef? I am 

 aware that many families are, of late, using much less beef 

 than formerly, and 3'et I am satisfied that the chief reason is 

 that the quality of the beef in our city markets is so inferior, 

 that a substitute is sought in all directions. 



In Worcester there is one retail beef-dealer who slauofhters 

 nmch of the beef sold at his stall. He is well known as a 

 purchaser of fat cattle. I have seen him driving through 

 the streets magnificent fat oxen and have seen him accosted 

 by consumers inquiring when those cattle would be slaugh- 

 tered and for sale. His trade is the best, and his customers 

 are assured of the full value of their money when they buy 

 his beef. Perhaps you inquire, "Where are these acres of 

 good pasturing you refer to ? Are they not at a great dis- 

 tance from railroads and the markets ? " 



My reply is, I can reach some of them from my own home 

 in two hours' railroad travel and an hour's drive, and some 

 of them in less time. 



And you ask, "Have you any plan for the development of 

 the proposed industry ?" 



I answer, I have made no experiments myself, but I have 

 already given you the results which individuals have wrought 

 out ; and I have outlined to friends, who have become inter- 

 ested in the matter, plans for trial which have met their 

 approval, and a promise of substantial co-operation when- 

 ever the time should arrive when capitalists would invest in 

 an experiment on a sufficient scale to secure a supply of West- 

 ern cattle for the work, and to establish a supply for a respec- 

 tably large market. 



No one who has given candid consideration to the subject 

 has ever condemned the idea as chimerical or discouraaino-. 



We must bear in mind that while beef-raising in the West, 

 and transportation jyid handling, are all done on such a stu- 

 pendous scale, beef-fattening in the East cannot go on three 

 legs. 



Land must be secured, transportation must be at hand, 

 facilities for shelter must be devised, calculations for fodder 

 must be made, and last, l)ut not least, the Western cattle- 

 raiser must be brought into the work to furnish us with the 



