Report on the American and Canadian Meat Trade. 345 
when it is properly cared for will, in great measure, meet these 
small expenses. The " meal " consists of ground peas, barley, 
oats, maize, or flax, and commonly a mixture of two or more 
of them. The turnips are invariably Swedes, of GO lbs. per 
bushel. 
In this calculation it is assumed that the animal is well bred, 
of good size and proportions, with a strain of Durham or 
Hereford blood. It is believed that such cattle can on an 
average be produced and ripened for the butcher, in the 
Province of Ontario, for the amount stated. 
Mr. J. T. Warrington, of Montreal, exporter of Canadian 
produce, in a letter dated May 25th, writes to me as follows : — 
" The cattle are well cared for in transit, and are hayed and 
watered every 150 miles. On arrival here they are kept in the 
railway yards until the ship is ready to receive them ; costs nil, 
commissions nil. Freights (ocean) for live cattle are too high by 
far just now, and should not be over half what they are. Freight 
71. ; fittings 12s. ; other incidental expenses, feed, care, &c, en 
route, \l. per head. Cost of slaughtering cattle, 12^/. per head, 
sheep 2^d. Hides are worth 4Jrf. per lb. inspected ; tallow 
7 3^d. rough, A\d. rendered. In the spring, mutton is worth 
Ad. to 5d., beef S^d. to A\d. per lb. ; in the fall, mutton is 
worth 2\d., and beef 3d. per lb. This is for prime stock ; you 
can buy beef as low as Id. per lb. wholesale." 
The cost of a Canadian ox weighing about 1600 lbs., when 
landed on our shores, may be summarised as follows : — 
£. s. d. 
Cost of rearing and feeding 13 4 0 
Transit to seaboard 0 10 0 
Food and attendance, say 0 2 0 
Ocean freight 700 
Shipboard fittings 012 0 
Food and attendance 100 
£22 8 0 
The weight of dressed beef in a beast whose live weight is 
1600 lbs. will be, at 57 per cent., 912 lbs. Costing 22Z. 8s. 
such a beast would be close on Gd. per lb. net weight when landed 
on our shores. But the foregoing summary represents the actual 
cost only of the animal on arrival, which is not enough. There 
are the farmer's and dealer's profits, and the loss in shrinkage of 
animal during transit, to be added. These items, of which it is 
impossible to give exact figures, would not amount to much less 
than Id. per lb. ; but as a set-off there is the value of the offal 
(less cost of slaughtering), which would reduce the beef to, say, 
Q^d. per lb. when the beast is slaughtered. Fine quality of 
Canadian beef, landed on our shores at a net cost of 6^d. per lb., 
2 B 2 
