142 THE WORLD'S MEAT FVTIRE 



owners of sheep are Mexicans, tliey either do not realise that it 

 can be cured, or are too indolent to stamp it out by united effort ; 

 where sheep are owned by Australians, English, or Americans, 

 tlie flocks are usually clear from this i)arasite. 



Goats are largely raised, as they are most i)rolific, and a ready 

 sale for their carcases is always to be had at from 4/- to 5/- each, 

 whilst their hides are shipped in immense quantities to America 

 for shoemaking, and realise locally about 2/6 each. 

 . By far the pleasantest branch of the stock business is in 

 breeding cattle, and this, after goats, is the most lucrative. For- 

 merly they were run in a haphazard style on free range, and all 

 owners together, but now as land is being bought up and fenced, 

 the small men with no land are being squeezed out, and gradu- 

 ally the cattle industry is getting into the hands of the wealthier 

 classes. The system of woi'king the cattle is a happy combina- 

 tion of the best methods of all countries ; properties are 

 bought, fenced by barbed wire, and subdivided ; stock-yards, 

 tanks, and wells put down, and the more improvetl strains of 

 Hereford, Durham, and Polled Angus are being introduced. 

 The markets for fat stock are the principal cities of Mexico, 

 Yucatan, Cuba, and the United States of America. It is a very 

 healthy place for cattle. I have never seen or heard of a ease 

 of pleuro or foot and mouth disease, and the calvings are usually 

 of a high percentage, averaging over 70 per cent. Horses do 

 very well, but there is little sale for them apart from those 

 required for the Mexican cavalry. Mule-breeding is, however, 

 a most lucrative business, and si)lendid animals are obtained by 

 using American jacks (donkeys) of from 15 to 16 hands put to 

 native mares. The demand is very keen for mules, unbroken, 

 three years old. 



As to the price of land, it is very varied, there being, as in all 

 countries, good, bad, and indiflferent. Land that will carrv^ a 

 bullock to 10 acres can be bought, fenced and improved, at from 

 €/- to 7/- an acre, according to its location to railways or large 

 cities. Unimproved land of about the same carrying capabilities, 

 but further back, can be bought at from 2/- and upwards, while 

 some parts sell as low as 6d. an acre in large tracts of poorer 

 quality. Irrigable lands are much higher, running from £6 to 

 £10 an acre. 



The star of Mexico, as a meat exporter, is waxing, and it 

 promises to shine still more brightly, as among the countries 

 of the world few possess such a combination of advantages 



