Report on the American and Canadian Meat Trade. 353 
per bushel. In fact, several Missouri farmers assured me that they could 
scarcely make ends meet by selling Indian corn at 28 to ;!0 cents per bushel, but 
that by feeding cattle with it they could generally come very near to 50 or 60 
cents. And to meet the cost of attending to the cattle, they have the profit 
they can make from hogs, which is indeed very considerable. Amongst every 
100 or 150 cattlo, 70 or 100 hogs may be kept and fed entirely from what 
they gather for themselves, so that whatever can be got for these hogs is clear 
gain, less of course their cost when they are housed with the cattle. Probably 
no branch of farming in America pays better than the rearing of hogs. 
Crosses from Bcrkshires predominate, and the general stock of hogs is decidedly 
superior to that of either cattle or sheep. Porkers also seem to be better 
attended to than the other animals of the farm — or probably it is that they 
attend better to themselves. 
" Within the past few years a large number of improved cattle, with a con- 
siderable per-ccntage of Shorthorn blood, have been introduced into Missouri 
from the older States, and now the State can boast of more than half-a-scorc 
of Shorthorn herds. Several of these herds have no claim to a position in the 
first rank ; but still there are a good man}' superior ' thorough-breds ' in the 
State. What the Missouri farmers call their native cattle are crosses claiming 
descent from probably every one of the many different breeds introduced in 
early days into the New England States. They are of fair size, but are far 
from what might be desired in regard to quality and shape and fineness of 
bone. Missouri, however, does not rear nearly all the cattle it requires. It 
looks to Texas, and, of course, does not look in vain, for probably one-third of 
the three or four thousand Texan cattle now moving northwards from their 
native ranges, will find their way into this State before the close of autumn. 
Here these cattle are fed along with the older native cattle for five months on 
corn and hay, and sent alive to the Chicago markets in spring, or whenever 
they may be considered ready for the ' pole-axe.' 
" When Texan cattle enter Missouri, they cost from $15 to $23 (2>l. to 41. 12s.) 
a head ; and the finish-off they receive here adds from $20 to $22 more (41. to 
il. 8s.) — that is, if each animal is allowed (what it usually requires) during 
these five months about 75 bushels of Indian corn, which in the market would 
bring from 28 to 30 cents (\.4d. to 15d.) a bushel. Native steers of three 
or four years old, when fat, weigh on an average from 1400 to 1500 lbs. alive, 
or from 600 to 750 lbs. in the carcass. The Texans, however, fall considerably 
short of that — probably do not average above 550 to 600 lbs. dead weight." 
Conclusion. 
There seems no ground whatever to assume, although tem- 
porary fluctuations in the exports during hot weather have occa- 
sionally taken place, that the American dead-meat trade will not 
rapidly increase, and before long become a very important one. 
As shown in Table III. (p. 332), the regular trade commenced 
in October, 1875, with a total for the month of 36,000 lbs., and 
went on gradually increasing until, for the month of April, 
1877, it reached the large total of 8,578,213 lbs., from the two 
ports of New York and Philadelphia. The monthly totals 
during the interval represent the American portion of the trade 
only, but there was also a considerable exportation of both 
dead meat, and live animals from Canada. As the summer 
came on in the present year, the American exports of dead meat 
