266 
BORDEN'S EXTRACT OF BEEF. 
At a recent meeting of the American Institute Farmers Club, held at 
New York, some interesting information was furnished, of a product 
which Mr. Borden is about introducing to the public, for it is of great 
interest to producer and consumer. To the farmers who live remote from 
market, it is of great interest for him to know that all the most valua- 
ble portion of a bullock can be extracted near its home on the great 
Western pastures, and put into such a form that it will save all the 
waste and nearly all the weight of transportation to market. To the 
city consumer, and above all the sick, this extract is of the utmost im- 
portance, for it insures the finest nutriment in the world, in the most 
healthy condition, and concentrated form. The extract is not gelatine, 
in the form of glue, for it is more like soft leather. Yet in a little hot 
water, it dissolves into an almost clear liquid, which is palatable to all 
tastes, when seasoned to suit, and nutritious, stimulating and refreshing to 
any person, faint for want of sustenance. 
This little cake, weighing only two ounces, represents two and a half 
pounds of the very best quality, for the bullock fresh from the pasture 
was killed and put into the great chemical retort before any process of 
deterioration could have possibly begun. In short, then, this is nothing 
more nor less than the juices of choice beef cooked in the most perfect 
manner, concentrated by evaporation in vacuo (without addition of salt 
or any condiments) into the smallest possible bulk, and comprises the 
nutritive value of twenty times its weight of fresh beef of the first 
quality. 
Without the cattle fed upon the Western prairies (observed the chair- 
man), this city, New York, could not enjoy its roast beef, steaks and 
soups. Without railroads how should we get the vast numbers received ? 
— last year over 267,000 head. If they came on foot they might be 
healthy, but the fine rich juices of the meat would be nearly all wasted 
upon the long march over plains and mountains. Upon railroads, do 
they reach the city in a healthy condition fit for human food? Some- 
times, and sometimes far from it. 1 have known droves arrive which 
have been five days upon the cars, without food or drink. Think of 
giving such food as such meat would make to a sick friend. Thanks to 
the inventive genius of Mr. Borden, we are not now obliged to go to the 
butcher and risk the purchase of what would tend to kill, sooner than 
cure, when we need something peculiarly nourishing to the convalescent^ 
Here it is. It comes from a great manufactory which Mr. Borden has 
established at Elgin, 111., forty miles north-west of Chicago, where 
the extract is made from mature, healthy, grass and corn fed bullocks. 
It may not be as well known to you, as it is to me, that beef fresh 
from prairie grass is the most delicious of any in the world, yet such a 
bullock transported to New York loses largely in weight, and almost 
