The Food of the Feoplc. 
113 
this country, wore (juito dlfic'iont from what wc know thciti 
to bo ; if land, for oxain})lo, were; repardod simply as dcsif^iicd to 
provide food for all men, and labour for as many men as possible ; 
if the poorer classes were stronger, more industrious, and better 
educated than they arc ; and if all the operations of agriculture, 
as regards crops and stock, were regulated by the highest science, 
without any waste, the land of the United Kingdom might pro- 
duce much larger supplies of food than it now produces. Of 
course it might. But what chance is there of the realisation 
of these " ifs " ? There is no chance that within any conceivabh; 
period the land of the United Kingdom will cease to be regarded 
in the old light, as more valuable for the social and political 
importance which it confers, when accumulated in large quantities, 
than for the actual money produce of the acres ; and it is certain 
that, on this side of the Millennium at any rate, we shall have 
to draw largely on distant countries for our supplies. We are 
beginning to see whence or how they will come. 
The first importations from any country are generally at a lower 
price than can be ultimately maintained. The beef of Australia 
and South America are at present at the lowest rate in tliose coun- 
tries because there has been little or no market for them there. 
But establish a good market with a ready sale for them here, and 
by creating a value for them there you tend immediately to raise 
their price. The first large consignments of American cheese 
were offered in this country at a figure exceptionally low, because 
the American war had destroyed the American market for cheese, 
and that article had no standing here : but as soon as the 
American cheese got hold of the English markets, the price rose 
in America ; American cheese was no hmger an unsaleable drug, 
and when the war ceased the prices in the two countries were 
much more nearly equalised. So it will be with meat. The 
first prices of beef and mutton from Australia and South America, 
being unnaturally low, will be raised when the market for them 
has been thoroughly established here and elsewhere. 
On the other hand, it seems very improbable that distant lands 
will be able to send us any meat good enough to compete on 
equal terms with the best of our own meat. Let the British 
farmer take care to produce the very best beef and the very best 
mutton, and the Avealthier classes in this country will never cease 
to be his customers, while he may even look to becoming an 
exporter of the best joints to the more luxurious feeders of Paris, 
Brussels, and Vienna. At a dinner given in London last summer, 
a haunch of venison, which had been killed nine weeks previously, 
and preserved by hanging in a frame, round which cloths dipped 
in bisulphate of lime, on Dr. Medlock's plan, had been stretched 
without actually touching the meat, was pronounced to be excel- 
VOL. IV. — s. S. I • 
