156 
Tiftij Years of Fruit Farming. 
We have now fulfilled as far as possible tlie task imposed 
upon us in writing tbis paper. A labyrinth of subjects hang 
round it which could be written of, but space does not allow us 
to enter on new fields. In conclusion, we have still a few words 
to say on the general cattle business of the States. In 1850 we 
had but 17,000,000 cattle. In 1880, notwithstanding the War 
and the stagnation that ensued, we had more than doubled our 
cattle census : the account had swelled to 35,000,000, and at the 
end of this decade we shall have about 50,000,000 head. The 
great increase is in the West. While the States east of the 
Mississippi Eiver had 15,000,000 cattle in 1850, they have only 
increased in forty years to 20,000,000. The States and Territories 
west of that river, with but 2,000,000 in the former year, have 
about 30,000,000 now. The increase in the East will not keep 
up with the population. In fact, it is doubtful if all over the 
country the human population is not growing more rapidly than 
the numbers of cattle ; but every year there is a great advance 
in quality, while there are economies in consumption. Many of 
the fertile fields of the West are yet untouched. While the day 
when science must accompany agriculture has come in the 
Eastern States, yet it will be years before the black prairie lands 
of our Western domain will call for help from the brain of the 
chemist. Cheap food for ourselves and for other countries is 
assured for years, and though the price of beef at present is 
below the cost of production, it is only temporary. The counter- 
action will come, and money will be made as of old ; but it is 
true that American energy and the Western march of civilisation 
will tend to give the consumer a better and at the same time a 
moderate-priced article, and for those reasons it is likely that 
Chicago, commanding a vast and splendid territory, will be one 
of the prime movers in the cattle trade of the world in the 
years to come. 
VII. — Fiftij Years of Fruit Farminrj. By CHARLES 
Whitehead, E.L.S. 
Agriculture generally has made the most astonishing progress 
during the last fifty years in respect of scientific applications, 
improvement of methods, and skill in management. In no 
previous fifty years has there been such an important and dis- 
tinct advance in science and practice as that which is recorded 
in the volumes of the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society 
of England, which has now been published for nearly half a 
century. A close examination of these voluraes will show how 
