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Excerpt from The Quarterly Journal of Science, Vol. 5 As we have already said, agriculturists are improving the breed of our cattle and seeking to bring a better supply to the meat market; manufacturers are multiplying our stores of artificial fodder, so that a good or bad season for pasture is of less moment than formerly, and each succeeding year brings us stores of fresh materials for this purpose from some new quarter of the globe; whilst chemists and meat curers are engaged in the keenest competition to preserve beef and other kinds of flesh abroad and at home; so that all the resources of art and science are being brought to bear in the effort to counteract the result of cattle plagues, the rapacity of butchers, and a rapidly increasing population. But there is, at present, one grave obstacle in the way of obtaining efiectual relief from a short supply of meat, which extends to hardly any similar substance, and that is the difficulty of importing it from abroad in its fresh condition. Cotton shipped from distant parts arrives here unimpaired in quality and undepreciated in value; so too coffee, tea, wheat, and hundreds of other necessaries and luxuries of life; but with the exception of smoked or salted flesh imported from a distance, and the limited supply of lean cattle brought from nearer countries, and rendered still more limited by cattle plague regulations, we have so far been unable to avail ourselves to any large extent of the live-stock of other parts of the globe. Something has, however, been accomplished, and in what condition we should have been, were that not the case, it is impossible to surmise. From Holland, Belgium, and other European countries we have for a long time past obtained supplies of lean-stock which has been rapidly fed in England (chiefly upon food originally the produce of Russia, India, and Africa), and placed upon our markets. Hams, bacon, and pickled or salted beef have formed a considerable feature in our North American import trade, and recent advertisements have informed the public that South American press-packed beef, of the finest quality and free from bone, is retailed "at a handsome profit to the dealer at fourpence per pound;" of the last named, it is right to say, that it cannot be looked upon as a description of food which will long maintain its footing, and the enterprising men who have so far succeeded in preserving their meat, must improve its quality, or it will not find its way into competition with our best English beef: to this subject we shall refer fully hereafter. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.