MEAT PRICES 57 



Taking the average prices realised at Lincoln beast 

 fair in 1882-3 and in 1893-4, the fall in the prices of all 

 classes of cattle between the two periods is from 2868 

 per cent, to 33*90 per cent.^ 



In Essex, Mr Pringle says farmers complain that 

 fattening no longer pays. Buying a beast of 9 cwt. in 

 October, and putting on 4 cwt. by feeding, " the extra 

 price made did not cover the cost of food consumed and 

 labour." 



In Banffshire in the " seventies " a cwt. of prime beef 

 was worth 84s. It has frequently sold since for 54s, and 

 in June 1895 was worth 60s. 



Store cattle in Suffolk have fallen from an average of 

 ;^ii 14s per head in 1889, to £^ i6s in 1894, partly 

 because farmers have not now capital enough to stock 

 their farms. 



With regard to sheep, though there has been a recent 

 recovery of prices in 1894 and 1895, and though it can 

 be shown that the average prices thirty and forty years 

 ago were, on the whole, lower than present prices, 

 there were very heavy declines of value since ten and 

 fifteen years ago. Thus Mr Hope puts the fall in store 

 sheep between 1 882 and 1 892, as from 40s to 30s, and in 

 fat stock from 70s to 50s. 



The average price of sheep at Lincoln Fair from 1877 

 to 1894 was about 62s, for the first nine years, and about 

 52s 7d for the last nine years, a fall of 15 per cent. 

 The prices shown in the evidence and accounts of indi- 

 vidual farmers confirm the approximate accuracy of 

 these figures. 



There is of course more difficulty in getting at the fall 

 in prices of meat in the same way as in the case of 

 cereals. It may be affirmed generally, as regards the 

 values realised by stock, that although the tendency 

 downwards has been marked, it has not been nearly so 

 sweeping and decisive as with corn. The losses to agri- 

 culturists under this head have been largely due to 

 sudden and sharp fluctuations, to combined dearness of 

 " stores," and cheapness of fat stock, and to one or two 

 ' Wilson Fox, Lincolnshire, p. 45. 



