24 ANIMAL FOOD EESOURCES OF DIFFERENT NATIONS. 



Kilos. 



Beef 33-56 



Mutton 3-29 



Pork... ... 18-72 



Game and poultry 2-58 



Flesh generally 68-15 



or about 128 lbs. 



A remark may here be made of the general objection 

 to mutton as food in Germany, Holland, and other 

 parts of the Continent. I remember offending a 

 learned Dutch professor by providing at dinner when 

 he visited me, as a choice dainty, a quarter of lamb, 

 not knowing the Dutch objection to the flesh of the 

 sheep. The best of it is, a great deal of cow beef is 

 used in Holland, a meat which we do not hold in esti- 

 mation. 



In other foreign countries mutton is disliked, or at 

 least rarely eaten. The Calmucks and Cossacks seldom 

 touch it, and the Mongols make a wine of it. In some 

 parts of America and in Spain, mutton is scarcely con- 

 sidered fit for food. The dried flesh of the wild sheep, 

 however, forms an article of commerce in Kamtschatka. 



A sheep to be in high order for the palate of an epi- 

 cure, should never be killed earlier than when five years 

 old ; at which age the mutton will be found firm and 

 succulent, of a dark colour, and full of the richest gravy ; 

 whereas if only two years old, it is flabby, pale, and 

 savourless. Wether mutton is always considered far 

 superior to that of the ewe. 



Harrison, who died in 1593, described our sheep as 

 "very excellent, and. for sweetness of flesh they pass all 

 others." The last three centuries have added greatly to 

 the improvement of the breed and the quality of their 

 flesh. Southdown mutton in point of flavour and deli- 

 cacy is thought equal to any that is killed. The older 

 the mutton, the finer the flavour. 



In highly fattened sheep the quantity of meat obtain- 

 able may reach as high as 65 per cent, of the carcase, 

 but this figure will not be obtained from ordinary sheep/ 



