The Harmsworth Atlas 



The World's Commodities. — I. Meat. 



MEAT.— The live-stock from which mankind derive their supply 

 of meat is reared throughout practically the whole vvorid, although 

 the countries able to export any large supply after satisfying their 

 o\TO domestic wants are comparatively few," and it is these only 

 that are indicated on the above map. It is noteworthy that the 

 principal meat-producing countries are largely undeveloped, and 

 the flocks and herds which they now maintain might be multiphed 

 many times before their pastoral resources were exhausted. 



5owc^so/5^/'^/y,— The Western states of America, on which the 

 meat industry of Chicago depends. The American meat trade has 

 grown very rapidly, and American cattle companies are beginning to 

 establish themselves over the Mexican border. River Plate Districts- 

 Lying north of this river, and embracing Uruguay, Paraguay, and 

 Rio Grande do Sul, is a vast extent of land largely available for 

 cattle-reanng. Its chief meat product is a coarse salt-dried beef 

 known locally as " tasajo " and in Brazil as "xarque." As this 

 region develops, however, the quality of the live-stock is improved, 

 so as to produce fresh meat for export to Europe, instead of dried 

 beef for other South American and West Indian markets. In the 

 Argentme Republic on the S. side of the R. Plate, the quality of the 

 meat has already been greatly improved. Sheep-rearing is even 

 more important in Argentina than cattle-rearing— the natural grass 

 of the pampa-lands, especially in the districts lying between Buenos 

 Ayres and Bahia Blanca, providing suitable pasture for the flocks 



Australia.— The soil, climate and indigenous vegetation are admir- 

 ably suited to the hve-stock industry. Captain MacArtliur first 

 showed m New South Wales that Austraha could produce an excel- 

 lent wool, and since then, as the explorarion of the interior was 

 pushed forward, pastoralists followed with their sheep and cattle, 

 and to-day the pastoral industry forms the chief element of the 

 wealth of the country. The area of South Australia suitable for 

 sheep farming is hmited, and it has neariy attained its fullest develop- 

 ment. In Victoria sheep farming has a strong rival in agriculture, 

 which has made rapid strides. Australia is the chief source of supply 

 of Menno wool, and her flocks are therefore more important as a 

 wool-producmg, than as a mutton, breed. Cattle breeding is of less 

 importance than sheep-rearing in all the Austrahan States except 

 Queensland, not because cattle cannot be profitably reared in the 

 country, but because sheep rearing is more remunerative. The 

 periodical droughts have also tended to discourage the expansion of 

 the cattle industry. In New Zealand, the recent development of the 

 dairy mdustry has stimulated cattle-rearing considerably. The 

 frozen mutton trade, which had its beginning in 1882, finds its best 

 market in Great Britain. There arc some twenty-one meat-freezing 

 works in the main islands, with a capacity for treating about 4,000,000 

 sheep per annum. Several Australian States (especially New South 

 Wales) are beginning to engage in the frozen meat trade. In 1906 the 

 imports of meat into the United Kingdom were valued at ;j(;5i, 058,649, 



BEEF, 



ANNUAL IMPORTS OF MEAT fNTO UNITED KINGDOM. 



UNITED STATES 



£lZ.927,906 



OTHER 

 CDUhTflLES 



£Z9^ 372. 



AF^GEhTlNA 

 l4,04l,3B3. 



CANADA BELGITTM 

 £?.53fi,3ai iJ659l7 



© 



N Z£ALAHO 

 J23Z,I9& 



MUTTON. 



NEW ZEALAND 

 £3. 91,304. 



ARGENTINA 



AUSTRALIA WrUE RUN D5 USA OTflEfl 



#2,461,^04 1\.023,Z1\ £5^9,572 i?43, 



l£B 



J^31,r39. 



PORK. 



m 



othH 



COUNTBlES 



UNITED STATES 

 £e,64l,S57, 



DENMARK 

 £4,126,090. 



CANADA KETHEPLANDS 

 L3,477.B00 it757,S77. 



TO 



