30 
Agricultural Progress and 
If the sixteen years succeeding 1S46 be divided into four equal 
periods of four years each, as in Table (E.), it will be found that 
the trade in cows, which was considerable for a few years after 
the ports were opened, soon declined, and has been pretty nearly 
abandoned ; but that the number of prime animals (the bulls 
forming a very inconsiderable portion of the numbers in the 1st 
column) has increased steadily, though not rapidly. The sheep, 
though with considerable fluctuations, have also increased. 
Table E. — Cattle, Sheep, and Swine Imported into the United 
Kingdom. 
Oxen and 
Bulls. 
Cows. 
Calves. 
Sheep and 
Lambs. 
•— 
Swine. 
Number. 
Number. 
Number. 
Number. 
Number. 
Average of 4 years — 
1847 to 1850, inc. 
25,814 
23,415 
15,361 
136,516 
3,325 
1851 to 1854, inc. 
49,328 
28,165 
27,298 
218,688 
12,489 
1855 to 1858, inc. 
54,223 
11,595 
24,879 
167,347 
11,082 
1859 to 1862, inc. 
65,433 
7,146 
26,228 
295,798 
21,001 
We have unfortunately failed in our attempts to obtain any 
reliable statement of the number of live stock brought to market 
in the principal cities and towns of the United Kingdom, so that 
we are unable to ascertain the proportion which the live stock 
imported bears to the whole consumption of the country. That 
it is but a small fraction of the entire supply is however evident 
by comparing the accompanying Tables (E.) and (F.),* from 
which it appears that the average number of cattle imported in 
the four years 1859-1862, were barely 25 per cent, and the sheep 
only 19 per cent, of the average numbers brought to market in 
those years in the metropolis alone. 
Table (F.) embraces a period of thirty years, and dividing 
it into three equal periods of ten years each, Table (G.), we find, 
by comparing the 2nd decennial period with the 1st, that there 
has been an increase in the annual supply of cattle of 27 per 
cent. ; and similarly comparing the 3rd period with the 2nd, 
that there has been a further increase of 22^ per cent. In the 
case of sheep, however, the increase in the 2nd period was only 11^- 
per cent. ; and in the 3rd period, there has been a falling-off of 
116,642 head annually, or 7 per cent, of the whole number of sheep 
* This Table has been kindly furnished by the authorities of the City of London. 
For the continuation, subsequently to 1854, we are indebted to the oilieers of the 
Board of Trade. 
