No. 4.] BEEF PRODUCTION. 65 



for cereals, including corn, and the marked increase in the ex- 

 port demand for such cereals, which has relatively raised the 

 price of the material upon which range-grown animals were 

 fattened. During the past ten years the middle west farmer 

 has found it less and less profitable to market his corn in the 

 shape of beef or pork, and so the relative numbers have de- 

 clined. If the consuming public continues to demand beef 

 so that the price rises sufficiently we shall undoubtedly con- 

 tinue to produce it, and largely in the corn-growing regions 

 of the middle west; but the western farmer will not in the 

 future be as strong a competitor of the eastern farmer as he 

 has in the past. What outlook, then, does the production of 

 meat aft'ord to the New England farmer under present condi- 

 tions? New England will undoubtedly continue to import a 

 large proportion of her meat supply. As the prices rise the per 

 capita consumption will undoubtedly decrease. In either case, 

 however, the New England farmer, constituting only about one 

 sixth of the population, would seem to be assured of a perma- 

 nent market at his own doors. The proportion of such market 

 that he can supply will depend very largely upon his own 

 intelligence, industry, and business ability. 



Along what lines, then, is it probable that profitable meat- 

 producing farm industries may be increased? Inquiries and 

 correspondence coming to me during the last two years have 

 shown that there is considerable interest in the question of 

 increased meat production in northeastern United States. 

 This correspondence has come in considerable degree, not so 

 much from farmers as from city people looking toward agri- 

 culture as a means of investment or employment. Nearly all 

 such inquiries assume that if meat production is to be increased 

 in the east it must be as a special, highly developed industry, 

 and questions as to the proper places for specialized sheep farms, 

 swine farms and beef farms, as distinct branches of agriculture, 

 have been numerous. 



If the meat products in New England are to be increased 

 I see little indication that it is likely to come in this specialized 

 form, but that it is much more likely to develop in connection 

 with dairying, fruit growing or with other branches of agri- 

 culture; and other countries give evidence that this is likely 



