INTRODUCTORY AND GENERAL. 25 



In well-fed sheep a yield of 55 ,to 60 per cent, can be 

 reckoned on, and 45 to 55 per cent, may be considered a 

 fair average. 



Mutton is seldom or never salted in England; in France 

 le gigot prisaM is a popular dish, but this is only mutton 

 grazed near the sea coasts. 



The annual consumption of home-grown sheep and 

 lambs in this country, according to a reliable estimate, 

 is more thun 14,000,000, out of a total of 28,000,000. 

 This was supplemented in 1883 by the importation of 

 over one million live sheep. There has been an esti- 

 mated loss of five and a quarter millions of sheep and 

 lambs of late years by the rot, hence the foreign imports 

 have to be largely supplemented to meet the food supply 

 of the nation. 



The value of the flesh of 14 million sheep which are 

 now annually slaughtered for food in the United King- 

 dom may be taken to be worth over £20,000,000. 



Each year in the province of Buenos Ayres, 10 million 

 sheep are boiled down solely for their tallow and skins, 

 hence a great waste of serviceable food occurs. The 

 boiling down of sheep in Australia has been in a great 

 measure abandoned. 



Goats' Flesh. — The flesh of the goat is harder, tougher, 

 and stronger food than mutton ; it is very commonly eaten 

 in Switzerland and other mountainous regions of the 

 world. The haunches are frequently salted and dried. The 

 flesh of the kid is generally esteemed, and has a flavour 

 not very unlike that of venison. The Malabar goat, that 

 browses on the rocks in Ceylon, is said to be a delicate 

 animal. Of the consumption of goats' flesh for food it is 

 difficult to form any accurate estimate, but in those 

 countries where the animal abounds it is no doubt eaten 

 in the young state. In England, however, the goat is not 

 legally held to be a food animal. 



Morocco, Spain, and India are the countries where the 

 largest number of goats are found, but it is scarcely 

 necessary to particularise the numbers, as they are kept 

 more for their milk, hair, and skins than for their flesh. 



