American Cattle Marl-Ms and the Dressed Beef Trade. 129 
As cotton used to be king, and still is in the South, so com 
is King in the West ; but the foundation of the American cattle 
business is distinctively grass. Ninety per cent, of the feed con- 
sumed by cattle in the States is composed of grass. The day of 
roots and grain, making in a great measure feed for our bovines, 
has not yet come, and it is likely that blue grass, with a rela- 
tively small addition of corn, will be the mainstay of our cattle 
business for years to come. In the range districts no artificial 
food is used. The cattle roam over vast pastures or the open 
prairie, gathering up what they can in summer and winter. 
With a plentiful supply of grass properly cured, the ranchmen 
can laugh at the elements. But the overstocking of the ranges 
during the last few years has worked terrible havoc in this 
industry, and it is only now beginning to recover. 
Before passing to the question of our cattle markets, it may 
be well to remark that the cattle of the United States as well as 
of Canada are making great advances in quality. The days of 
heavy cattle are evidently numbered, and the steers which pay 
the feeder are those which ripen early and evenly. The 1,250- 
Ib. bullock is more popular and profitable than the 1,600-lb. old- 
fashioned steer, although he may be as fat as a hog. Two 
causes have led up to this state of affairs. First, the increas- 
ing demand for smaller cuts — for the average American wants 
hot meat, and he wants it often ; and secondly, the energy and 
enterprise shown by the fine stock breeders of the continent in 
introducing pure-bred cattle. The average farmer who wishes to 
buy a thoroughbred bull, a pedigree pig, or a first-class ram, can 
generally supply his wants at his door. It is doubtful if as a 
business the breeding of pure-bred stock has been a paying one 
to the individual breeder, but certain it is the live-stock feeders 
of America have put millions of dollars into their pockets through 
the efforts more especially of the breeders of the " red, white, and 
roans," and the omnipresent Berkshire pig. 
As stated above, up to the end of the Civil War, which changed 
to a great degree the fabric of American national life, and 
among other alterations helped in a certain measure to open up 
the fertile prairies of the West, the cattle markets had to a great 
extent been local. The movement of produce from the West to 
the East was in an embryo state. But when the War ceased, 
then the country, rising like a phoenix from its ashes, began to 
build up, with gigantic energy, markets of unrivalled magnitude. 
Some sixty years ago Chicago was a small hamlet set down, 
as it were, in the middle of a marsh on the banks of a stream, 
which sends its waters in two directions, sometimes flowing 
towards Lake Michigan, and at other times, with some artificial 
VOL. XXV. — S. S. K 
