2 
Relative Profits to the Farmer from 
breeding, rearing, and feeding, applicable alike to all, or nearly 
all, parts of the United Kingdom, is almost an impossibility. 
Local and varying circumstances solve the question of whether 
this, that, or the other kind of stock is the most profitable. The 
nature of the soil, the climate, the situation of the farm, and 
other circumstances peculiar to the district, or it may be to the 
farm, must be consulted. I did not, therefore, undertake this 
inquiry and report in the hope of being able to show that 
British and Irish farmers would generally find it advantageous 
to abandon the production of any of the classes of stock referred 
to, and confine themselves to the other or others. Nor did I 
expect to find that, as a general rule, it would pay farmers to 
very materially increase their attention to one variety, if that 
involved the neglect or sacrifice of the others. I have, however, 
for several years been convinced that farmers would benefit by 
closer attention to the breeding and rearing of live-stock, espe- 
cially cattle. Sheep during the last quarter of a century have 
been better managed in the United Kingdom than cattle ; but 
on this subject more by-and-by. The result of recent inquiries 
confirms the belief that more beef and mutton could be raised 
in this country, with profit to the farmers and benefit to the 
community. 
Live-stock farming, as a rule, has been much more profitable 
in the course of the last fifteen years than corn-growing ; and it 
is likely to continue so. This circumstance is attributable to 
the superior quality of British beef and mutton ; to the diffi- 
culties attending the import of good butcher's meat ; and to the 
quality and quantity of the foreign corn which competes suc- 
cessfully in British markets with home-grown grain. British 
farmers turn a very much larger quantity of meat into the 
market annually than they did twenty years ago ; but the appe- 
tite for it has more than kept pace with the growing supplies : 
hence the rise in price. 
We have no means of comparing the home supplies of 
beef and mutton, prior to 1866, with those of more recent years. 
The agricultural returns, however, commenced by the Board of 
Trade in 1866, and since collected every year, give us at least a 
rough idea of our position. But they do little more ; for the returns 
being optional, they are not so reliable as they might be. It 
is astonishing how many farmers, especially among the flock- 
masters, still decline to make returns. Latterly local Govern- 
ment officials have got from neighbours an approximation of 
the numbers owned by the non-returning farmers. This, how- 
ever, is not satisfactory ; and it is very desirable that more 
accurate statistics should be obtained. 
