Management of Grass Land. 
153 
years, and as this additional experience has, to some extent, 
modified my previous opinions, as well as furnished me with 
additional information, I am induced to revert to the subject 
now that the production of meat has assumed a degree of import- 
ance which cannot be fully appreciated without a brief reference 
to some of the public documents bearing on the subject. 
Since the date of the above-mentioned paper the number of 
mouths to be fed in Great Britain and Ireland has increased 
by more than three millions. A mere statement, however, of 
the increase of numbers, very inadequately expresses the whole 
additional call for animal food, the rapid development of the 
industrial resources of the country which has taken place of late 
having created a demand for labour at advancing wages, which 
has given the working classes unexampled command over the 
comforts of life, and greatly increased the frequency of their visits 
to the butcher's shop. 
No reasonable doubt can, therefore, be entertained that the 
effective demand for fresh meat has risen rapidly during the last 
few years, and the next questions that suggest themselves are : — 
Have the supplies kept pace with the demand ? And are they 
still increasing at such a rate as to satisfy the quarter of a milliop 
hungry souls which each successive year adds to the population 
of these islands ? I will first deal with the supplies from abroad, 
and the accompanying Table (A) shows the number of cattle, 
sheep, and swine imported into the United Kingdom in the years 
18(53-1871 inclusive, being a continuation of a return published 
in vol. xxv.'p. 29 of the Society's Journal. 
Table A. 
Cattle, Sheep, and Swine, imported into the United Kingdom during the 
years 1863 to 1871. 
Yeak. Cattle of all ages. SheepandLambs.! Swine. 
1863 
1864 
Cattle Plague broke out in June, 1865 
Cattle Plague ended with the year 1866 
1867 
1868 
1869 
1870 
1871 
150,898 
231,733 
204,867 
237,739 
177,948 
136,688 
220,190 
202, 172 
248,911 
430,788 
496,243 
914,170 
970,^80 
539,716 
341,155 
709,843 
669,905 
916,799 
27,137 
85,362 
132,943 
73,873 
48,079 
33,721 
69,067 
95,624 
85,622 
1,811,146 
5,989,499 
651,428 
201,238 
665,499 
72,381 
Average of 3 years, 1869, 1870, and 1871 
223,757 
765,515 
83,437 
It thus appears that, though the foreign supply varies con- 
