Report on some features of Scottish Agriculture. 103 
demand for the fore-quarters, and especially for the one or two 
ribs that may be cut off them ; and it even suits the trade of 
some butchers to keep very little beef beyond the fore-quarters. In 
such cases there will always be a residuum of odd-looking lumps 
of meat that have not received the distinction of separate names ; 
these and some of the fore-quarters are dry-salted, and sent 
to Newcastle to victual the colliers engaged in the London coal- 
trade. The other portions not retailed find their way to the 
preservers' boulli-pots, and thus we get rid of the last remnant 
of "dead-meat." There now remains the offal, consisting of 
hides and hearts, tails and tripe, tongues and tallow, .and other 
rejectamenta, the uses of which are well known. But in Aberdeen 
there is a special trade connected with the head which deserves 
a short description, especially as it owes its origin to the wife 
of a leading Aberdeen butcher, who for several years kept it 
in her own hands. It is now carried on by Mr. Lyon, of George 
Street, Aberdeen, and I saw the process on his premises, which, 
however, is not now the only place where this business is pursued. 
The heads are simply boiled down, the bones taken out, then 
chopped fine, cooked with the feet, and seasoned with spices and 
salt ; the cooked mass is then run into shallow square open tins, 
holding about 6 lbs. each, in which it solidifies into a firm 
jelly, crusted over with a thin covering of fat. These tins are 
chiefly sent to Dundee to an agent, who sells them, first hand, at 
\s. \d. per tin, to a dealer, who retails the material at Ad. per 
pound, his chief customers being factory-girls. This is one of 
the most wholesome and nutritious, and, at the same time, one 
of the cheapest articles of food that can possibly be bought at 
the present time. 
The national importance of the agriculture of Aberdeenshire 
cannot be better illustrated than by the following extract from a 
letter which Mr. J. F. Beattie was so good as to write to me in 
special reference to this subject : — 
Estimated value of hve cattle and dead meat from Aberdeen- 
shire, exchisive of ofial, exported from Aberdeen south, £. 
chiefly to London 835,200 
Add value of liides, tallow and ofl'al on 26,892 cattle from 
this county, a large proj^ortion of which is sent south 
in the trade of the meat- preservers and others, curers .. G0,507 
Value exported 895,707 
Value of 7500 cattle used at home, towns and county . . 157,500 
Total 1,053,207 
Equal 42,000 cattle, at 25?. per head. 
VOL. VII. — S. S. 
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