T1UNS1ACTI0>8 OF SECTION F. 



841 



II 



;t 

 t; 

 ',) 

 II 

 I) 

 r> 



40 



k; 



n millions, 

 t Kinjiiliiiii; 

 ■iev lliiiii ill 

 three diivs' 

 Inirtlien in 



th as in the 



I 



itut ratio to 

 Wcnlth 

 II r wut. 



H-4 

 1 1 ■'.» 



.■)-L' 



12-7 I 

 i:t-8 ! 



18-5 i 

 206 I 

 28-5 

 8'4 



:to 



20 



8-5 



lOO 

 2-9 

 50 



lS-3 1 

 7'i» 

 14-8 i 



a year, but 



public weiiltli in Europe increaHes four and a hiilf tiniPH faHtor, as seen by comparinj?- 

 \^i with lH-16. Tbu incruu8U ol'dubt in not nt-ceMMurily an e\il. 



3. Canadian Finance, liij J. McLennan. 



4, O'l ihf' ProdnrUnn and Consumptiou of Meat in the. United KinydoTn, 

 lit/ Major P. G. Chaioik, F.S.S., Svcrvtary of the. Central Chamber 

 of Aijricultnre of Great Jirifain. 



l'"ew subjecta come mon* lej^itimately within the sphere of this Section of thi- 

 British AsHociation for tlio Advancenient of Science tliim the food supplies of the 

 jnoplt", and few subdivisions of the food question fjfenerally have ut the present 

 liiut) a clfiser interest to consumers and jtroducers alike, than attaches to an inquiry 

 into the sources, the dimensions, and the future of our supplies of meat. Althoughi 

 ibe Eiijriifli people have ever been a meat-eatiii}^ race, little statistical inquiry has 

 biendincled into the amount annually consumed in the United Kinffdom, or into 

 tk'coiuliliiina of the profitable production of meat. Attention has, however, been 

 recently drawn to these matters by the frrowinj,' dependence of the British con- 

 >umer on meat reared beyond the sea, and by the losses, direct and indirect, whicii 

 have unfortunately attended the introduction of forei^'ii contagious diseases ulon^• 

 witli the live-stock imported from abroad to supply our lack of native produce. 



Only lor the past 10 years have we any accurate data for contrasting,' the 

 number of meat-producin(jf animals with the growing volume of our poi)ulation. 



In 1808 the population of the Uniud Kingdom was oO.OlH.OOO souls, residing 

 111 a su))erlicial aita of 78,0(IO,()()U acres, whereof 45,(55.'J,OUO acres only werb 

 accounted for as ' undei' cultivation.' It would not be ({uite accurate, however, to 

 Mipjiose that two-tilths of the surface of the country contributes nothing to the 

 meat supply. Animals are undctubtedly depastured on many of the mountains, 

 moors, and marsh lauds, especially in Wales, in Scotland, and in Ireland, whichi 

 are officially included in the ' uncultivated' area. 



In 1883 the popidaii(.,a had increased by 5,000,000 persons, or over 10 per cent. 

 ill 10 years, Neither the so-called cultivated area of tiie kingdom, which ajipears 

 ti> liave been augmented by 2,000,000 acres, or 4 per cent., in the same interval, nor 

 the number of meat-yielding a ;imals kept by our farmers, have kept pace with this 

 TOwth of population. The cattle were more nimierous in I8S3 than in 1808 by- 

 just a railiiou head, (>]• 1 1 ])er cent., and the pigs by 800,000, or 2;") per cent. ; but oi> 

 tlie other hand the sheep stock of the country had become smaller by upwards 

 of7,000,000 animals, or a loss of more than 20 iH-r cent. 



No oilicial data exist whereby to determiiic the average weight of meat 

 yielded annually by our lloi-ks and herds at the two periods contrasted, but on the 

 ksis of an assumed or t*taniiard yield in jwuuds of dead meat for each class of 

 >lotk, it is possible to piesent, as 1 have tried to do by a tliagram, the lluctuations 

 ill the supplies annually jjroduced at home. Adding to this estimate the known, 

 and otficially recoi'ded weight of foreign meat landed alive or deail on our shores 

 ill each year, it is clear we possess for the 10 years, 1808-83, inclusive data from 

 which it is easy to construct a graphic lepresentation of the changes Avhich have 

 Jaken place in the coiisumjuion of animal lo(jd. We can thus compare the gross 

 increase with the increasing number of mouths to be fed, and by discriminating as 

 far as possible between the sorts of meat gruwn or imported, the relative consump- 

 tion of beef, mutton, or pig-meat, may be observed. 



The diagram I have constructed represents in each of sixteen annual columns 

 placed side by side the \\ eight in tons of the year's supply, divided into six classes 

 "I meat. These are, reading upwards: (1) home-grown "beef, including veal; (2) 

 liome-growu mutton and lamb; (3) uome-grown pig-meat of all descriptions; 

 tile aggregate of these three lower divisions showing, of course, the whole native 

 production. The next Section (4) represents, equally in tons, the proportiou 

 annually supplied by our entire live imports whether of cattle, sheep, or pigs ; 





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