Report on the American and Canadian Meat Trade. 297 
in this country ; and that, consequently, barren cows, drafted in 
the autumn from the dairy-herd, which have commonly been 
in good demand for stall-feeding purposes, will in the future be 
hardly saleable at remunerative prices. If this be indeed the 
sequel, it will mean .a distinctly diminished profit on dairy hus- 
bandry. The graziers, on the other hand, expect that they will 
have disposed of the bulk of their summer-fed beef and mutton 
before the American winter-supply can fairly set in, and that the 
new trade will not seriously interfere with their markets. It is, 
therefore, at present popularly supposed that stall-feeding farmers 
will suffer most from the American importation, the dairy-farmers 
next, and the graziers least of all. These assumptions are obvi- 
ously based on the conjecture that the American meat must, to a 
great extent, stop coming in summer. Admitting for a moment 
that this conjecture may be true, it follows that the less they 
send us in summer the more they will in winter. And it will 
suit the American system of farming well, not to send us very 
much in summer ; it is a simple matter for them to graze their 
cattle on through the summer, and as autumn approaches to 
commence feeding corn to them, soon " topping them up " into 
well-finished beef, admirably suited to winter exportation. 
It is probable, however, that all these conjectures and in- 
ferences will prove in the future to be wide of the mark. 
Agriculture in England will be found to adapt itself to the 
new conditions more easily than many people think. If, as some 
say, we are up to the limit of meat production here, then there 
is room for the American meat to come in. When we con- 
sider that our population has increased during the present 
century from 10,000,000 up to what it is now, and if the 
estimate of the 'Times' come true — that it will be doubled in 
fifty-four years, and in five generations become 200,000,000, — 
then we may see reason to congratulate ourselves that there is 
American meat to fall back upon. 
I have yet one more introductory remark to make : by the 
term " American," in this Report, I must not, in all cases, be 
understood to refer only to the United States ; for Canadian 
interests (more particularly in the fresh meat, cattle, horses, &c, 
which come to us in winter-time) are so intermingled with those 
of the States, that when we speak of the one country we neces- 
sarily speak of the other, to a greater or less extent. I shall, 
however, as far as possible, treat of the two separately. 
Land Resources of America. 
It has been longer the custom in America than in England to 
collect and publish official Returns of the area of land under 
Y 2 
