242 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
August, 
0 
Meat-Market Supplies. 
The raising of cattle, sheep and poultry for the sup¬ 
ply of our village and city markets,, is evdry day be¬ 
coming a matter more deserving of the attention of the 
agricultural community. The demand is becoming 
more and more difficult to supply, as larger quanti¬ 
ties and finer qualities are being continually sought 
after. As raising supplies of beef, mutton, veal, lamb, 
poultry, &c., attracts more and more of the attention 
of farmers, in like proportion will all information be 
welcome which furnishes accurate and reliable details 
as to the most economical methods of fatting and get¬ 
ting ready for market a,ny of the above products. The 
breed of animals most easily fatted, and the kind of 
feeding which is at once most effectual and most econo¬ 
mical, are points upon which we may yet obtain con¬ 
siderable increase of reliable and useful information. 
The following observations from The Mark Lane 
Express , in reference to the past and the future of 
the business of supplying the demands of the butcher 
and the meat market man, hold true of this country 
and the American population, as of those on the other 
side of the channel, and seem deserving the attention 
of graziers and others. 
Amongst the many permanent improvements in ag¬ 
riculture which have taken place within the past fifty 
or sixty years, none deserves a more prominent place, 
or is of greater importance, than the production of 
meat; it has fully kept pace, if it has not exceeded, 
the production of grain. We fear not to assert that, 
taken separately, more grain , or more meal , is now 
produced by the agriculturists of this kingdom than 
was formerly produced by taking both collectively. 
The introduction of improved courses of husbandry 
has done very much to effect this, but the attention 
that has been latterly called forth to the adoption of 
every practicable improvement of which the business 
of a farmer is capable of sustaining, has done much 
more. The growth of new varieties of grain and of 
roots and vegetables,has done immense good y these as- 
isted by improved culture and artificial manurings, 
have wrought astonishing alterations and great in¬ 
crease of produce on every intelligent man’s farm ; 
but we think these have been exceeded‘by the im¬ 
provement made in the breeding, feeding, and man¬ 
agement of the live stock of the farm. Contrast for 
a moment, the cattle of sixty years since—the long, 
high, thin, lean-fleshed, large-boned, hard, unthrifty 
animals of that day, with the compact rotundity of 
shape, the soft, the mellow, thrifty animals of the 
present day; the former fed at six and seven years, 
the latter generally fatted the third year, often earli¬ 
er. The same remark will apply to sheep and pigs, 
and not less to poultry; early maturity and quickness 
in fattening have been looked to as the deciding cha¬ 
racteristics in every variety of meat-producing animal. 
In keeping with the improvements that have arisen, 
and the wonderful accession made to our supplies fo 
animal food, has been the alteration in the tastes and 
habits of the community. The whole British people 
have become large meat consumers, so that consump¬ 
tion of animal food has gone on progressively with its 
increase, and now bids fair to outstrip it; and not only 
has its taste for animal food become general, but it has 
assumed a new shape or feature. Beef, mutton, bacon, 
are looked upon as too common dishes. Lamb, veal, 
small pork joints, and poultry must now v< *be served up 
at every table; hence the amazing demand for lamb, 
calves, small porkers, and poultry ; and this will go on. 
and increase, as the habits of the people are becoming 
daily more refined, and perhaps it is not too much to 
add, more luxurious. —«e>— 
The Crops at the West* 
The following letter came from a reliable source, 
and expresses the honest opinions of a competent judge ; 
and we are sorry to have to add that its statements are 
confirmed by representations recently made to us by 
another gentleman, who had just returned from a tour 
over a part of the same district. We had supposed the 
wheat crop much better than estimated by our friends, 
and cannot but hope that it will yet prove better than 
here anticipated. 
Buffalo, 27th June, 1854. 
Mr. Tucker —Having been on a tour through central 
and western New-Yorb, as also through part of Upper 
Canada and some of the western states, I can speak 
with a certainty respecting the crops. Central and 
western New-York has a very poor crop of winter 
wheat, it having been hurt very much by the severe 
frosts in the end of March, say from the I7th until 
first April. The wheat was not hove,out,.but an im¬ 
mense quantity of it killed out-right by frost, and it 
will be a very small crop. Owing to the late drouth, 
hay must be a very light crop, and it is selling at fa¬ 
mine prices already. Corn and oats may be a good 
crop with seasonable weather. The weevil in the 
wheat, about the same as last year. In what I saw of 
Upper Canada,, the crops are even worse than in central 
and western New-York. In Michigan, Indiana, and 
Northern Ohio, the wheat is as near a total failure as 
it possibly can be, the weevil having taken nearly all. 
Occasionally there is a field of Mediterranean wheat, 
that is pretty good; but very little wheat in those 
places mentioned, will pay for threshing. I never saw 
any like it except in Dutches Co. N. Y., in 1842. To 
commence at the east of Cayuga county, and go west 
of Michigan and Indiana, there can not be near enough 
of wheat to bread the people, but there is abundance 
of old corn. I expected to have found the corn in the 
west much larger than it is j but farmers in general 
told me it was as good as it generally is at this season. 
Their grass crops are very good, and their oats also. I 
never saw such crops of oats. I want you to put this 
letter where you can refer to it at any time—you will 
find it a true account. Yours, &c., An Old Farmer. 
Minnesota. —We are indebted to Col. 0. H. Kel¬ 
ley, Cor. See’y Benton Co. Ag. Society, for a pamphlet 
containing the proceedings of the Society at their an¬ 
nual meeting in December last. It includes the ad¬ 
dress of Gov. Gorman, and the annual report of the 
Secretary, Col. Kelley, both of which are valuable 
papers, and from which we hope hereafter to make 
some selections for the Co. Gentleman. From returns 
made to the Secretary, it- appears that there were 
grown in this new county, 11,400 bushels wheat—14, 
065 oats—5000 corn—160 rye—970 barley—299 beans 
—315 buckwheat—11,000 potatoes—15,370 ruta-bagas 
and turnips ; wild hay cut, last year, 850 tuns, and 
3,025 bush, cranberries, and 1,000 wild rice gathered. 
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