LIVE STOCK charge of the company's business and the breeding of the cattle, continuing up to the closing sale in 1837, when those remaining were sold at prices ranging from $425 to $2,500. Other companies were afterward formed in Kentucky and Ohio. The success of this pioneer_company led also to heavier importations by the Eastern men; and Mr. Whitaker, an English breeder, sent 100 head to Philadelphia, which were sold on the farm of Mr. Powell, an extensive breeder and importer. During the 30's and later the Devons and Herefords had stanch admirers. Henry Clay had gone to England and imported Devons, Herefords, and shorthorns, and in a letter to Governor Trimble he advised the Ohio company to bring out Devons and Herefords, as they were "better for the yoke." The Devons were at that time the favorites in New England. The Herefords have been vastly improved in the prairie States, and have been used in great numbers on the plains, to the vast improvement of the range cattle of the West. As beef-cattle they have carried off a full share of prizes with the shorthorns at the Chicago fat-stock shows. As the farms of the country became improved, and cattle no longer wintered in the forests or open fields, farmers found horns to be an expensive and unnecessary appendage, and a constant menace to the quiet and peace of the herd enclosed in yards and sheds. The shipper, too, finds the horns a source of loss in the pens and the cars of the railroads. Buyers of feeding cattle prefer those without horns, since they can accommodate a greater number with peace and quiet at the feeding racks and troughs. These causes have led to the practice of dehorning cattle intended for the dairy and feed lots. The polled breeds of Scotland and England have been imported extensively within the last decade; and the polled Durham, a new breed of cattle originated in the Miami Valley is so far established that already the number of breeders and their favorites are numerous, and the type so well fixed that the first volume of the 'American Polled Durham Herd-Book' has been issued. At present there are successful herds of polled Durhams in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa. The long-horned Texas cattle are one remove above the buffalo. They doubtless are of Spanish origin, introduced into Mexico, of which Texas was then a part, about the year 1500. They overran the plains of the Southwest, and were for years killed for their hides and tallow. Before the advent of railroads into the Southwest, Texas was supposed to have one seventh as many cattle as all the other States and Territories. Until Kansas became settled, they were driven by trails into the Northwest, and made the base for founding the numerous and extensive cattle ranches which utilized the wild grasses of government lands. The settlers pushed west to take up lands along the watercourses of the mountain ranges until the boom in the cattle business burst, leaving wrecked fortunes and a clearer field for the legitimate production and improvement of cattle on the farms. The necessity of greater attention to live stock and of plowing less and grazing more, is beginning to be recognized by the more intelligent, and, during the last quarter of the 19th century especial attention was paid to the improvement of dairy cattle. The importation of Channel Islands cattle and Holstein-Friesian was large, and even the dairy qualities of shorthorns attracted attention. The World's Fair dairy test of shorthorns, Jersey, Guernsey, and Ayrshire cattle continuing through several months, gave a new impulse to the breeding of Channel Islands cattle and dairy shorthorns. The Jersey, Holstein, and Ayrshire can be found in every community, and our milk records and dairy tests show that our improved cattle and our methods of breeding and feeding enable us to excel records made in the countries where dairy breeds originated. Our experiment stations and agricultural colleges are investing in dairy plants and employing every means known to science for the fostering and development of the dairy interests of the people. Our foreign trade in dairy products is older than the government. During part of the first half of the 19th century our shipments of butter exceeded those of cheese. This continued until about 1842, when the introduction of cheese factories led to increased exports of that product. Instead of our American cheese growing in favor abroad, it deservedly lost standing, because of the process of "filling cheese" with lard, unmerchantable butter, etc. The history of the dairy business in America is one of vast fluctuations. The legitimate manufacturer has had to cope with the most ingenious substitutes. The fats of swine and cattle have come into competition with butter fat, by the introduction of oleomargarine, lard, neutral, and filled cheese. The business has been demoralized, and the reputation of American butter and cheese impaired. There is no longer any mystery about the character of oleo and filled cheese. Some States have regulated their sale by law, compelling them to be sold on their merits. The change in the values of butter and cheese for the last 40 years has been steadily downward. As our dairy exports have declined with the quality of goods offered, our exports of beefcattle have increased, the quality of stock being improved in the same ratio. One of the first attempts to export cattle from the Southwest was made by a company of ranchmen of Texas. It was before the days of refrigerator-cars and cold storage in vessels. Only 15 per cent of a large cargo of the Texas longhorns reached Liverpool. The first cattle exported for beef went to Glasgow about 1868. Only two consignments a week were first sent out. The number increased to 50 a week, but as the cost of export was $48.66 per head, shipments were discontinued in 1874. Freights declining to $10 or less per steer, the business was resumed, and has gradually increased as the prejudice against American beef gave way to enthusiasm in its favor. Since the first trials the business of exporting beeves, either alive or dressed, has grown to mammoth proportions. The effect of the transfer of the choicest beeves to a foreign market has been to stimulate the price of prime cattle. Illinois, Kentucky, and Ohio for years furnished the bulk of export cattle, but now Iowa and Missouri also send many. There was but a small surplus of cattle in this country prior to 1850. About that time grass-fed beeves began to find market in Cuba. The real commencement of our export business was in 1877. when the improvement started in Ohio and Kentucky, and worked westward, where cows and grass were abundant and cheap. In 1877 LIVE STOCK 50,000 head were exported to Great Britain, Chester County, Pennsylvania, the white hog Cuba, the British West Indies, Canada, and Mexico. More than half of this number went to Cuba, and only 5,091 to Great Britain. The quality of cattle having improved, the export trade to Great Britain in 18 years increased to 355,852, worth nearly $32,500,000. France, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands, took less than $2,000,000. From 394,772 heads of cattle valued at $36,576,412 exported in 1896, the number increased in 1901 to 454,590 heads, valued at $36,606,204. In 1910, 139.430 heads of cattle, valued at $12,200,154, were exported. 195,938 cattle were imported, some being high class stock for breeding purposes, and the greater number being "feeders," a cheap grade of animal, brought in from Mexico and Canada to be fattened for market. In 1877 the first shipments of fresh beef in refrigerator-ships were made. In 1870 the value of all shipments of beeves and beef products was $6,194,626. In 1902 the total value was $62,420,732, taking more than 1,000,000 of the choicest cattle; in 1910 it had decreased to $26,397,673. In 1870 an export beef was worth $15.98; in 1891 the average price was $81.26 each, showing that as quality improves price advances, although in 1901 it had fallen to an average price of $74.30. There is no longer any demand for good cattle among country butchers, and the farmer who formerly could fatten one to six prime bullocks has now no market. The hog crop of America is most closely related to the corn crop. The States in the corn belt west of the Ohio River furnish the surplus pork for export and for home consumption in States where corn is not largely grown. Hogs were brought by the Virginia and Massachusetts settlers, and in the common hog of the country was early found a mixture of types and races from every country where pork was produced. This mongrel was the base, easily impressed by the blood of the China, Neapolitan, Berkshire, Tamworth, and other breeds, known as early as the second quarter of the century. After the settlement of Ohio and Kentucky improvement was marked. The corn in the valleys and the mast in the timber furnished food in such abundance that the energies of the early settlers were bent upon producing pork and cattle to utilize the superabundance. The West Indies furnished a market for all surplus pork of the Eastern States, and under the stimulus of this trade fat hogs were produced along the Delaware, before the development of the interest in the country around Cincinnati. The production of hogs in Ohio, Kentucky, and eastern Indiana increased so rapidly that Cincinnati early became the packing centre of the West. As the Wabash, the Illinois, and the Missouri valleys and the prairies became vast corn-fields, and the railroad pushed westward, the centre of pork production also moved west. Ohio is no longer the leading corn and hog State, being now the seventh; and Cincinnati is excelled as a packing city by Chicago, Kansas City, Omaha, St. Louis, and Indianapolis. The China and Berkshire, along with the Russian and Irish grazer, were earliest used to cross upon the common hog. In New Jersey the red hog formed the foundation for the large hogs to furnish the heavy meat for the West Indies and the Carolinas. In was the favorite, and the type called Chester white was established. In the Miami Valley the China, Berkshire, Woburn, Russian, and Irish grazer blood mingled with that of the common hog, and the Poland China breed was evolved and improved to meet the wants of the packer and feeder. In northern Ohio, in the dairy districts, where the conditions of feed, soil, and handling were very different, the white hog of Pennsylvania has been improved, and we find a breed known as Todd's improved Chester whites. The red hog of New Jersey has come west, filled out, and is taking on the plumpness and refinement of bone, ear, and head peculiar to the breeds in a corn-growing country. In northern Indiana we find a breed of white hogs called Victorias, finer in type than the Chester whites, and of more growth than the small English breeds. The above-named American breeds have become so well fixed and established that each has its record. The improvement of the swine of America has been greater than that of its horses, cattle, or sheep, and with a far smaller outlay for imported animals for breeding purposes. The cotton States consume more pork than they produce, and the States producing the surplus are Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Kentucky, Minnesota, and Michigan, ranking about in the order named. It has been estimated that 95 per cent of the exports of pork, 86 per cent of the exports of lard, and 93 per cent of the total exports of hog products from the United States come from the surplus of these States. While the sheep industry is of variable importance, there are according to recent returns about 40,000,000 sheep in the United States, exclusive of lambs under one year of age. The chief sheep raising States are Montana, New Mexico, Wyoming, Ohio and Utah. The im ports of sheep in 1910 were 126,152, valued at $696,879; the exports 44,517, valued at $209,000. Our unequaled system of transportation is one of the prominent factors which helped the remarkable development of the pork business. Pork products are carried from Chicago or St. Louis to New York for only about one third of a cent per pound. The ocean charge_from New York to Bremen is about the same. Direct consignments from St. Louis or Chicago to Bremen have been shipped for a little more than half a cent per pound. Lard production has suffered somewhat since the discovery of the process of utilizing a waste product of cotton. Cotton-seed oil has now come into such extensive use as a substitute for lard and lard-oil, for culinary and manufacturing purposes, that its present annual sale is estimated to exceed the equivalent of 70,000,000 pounds of lard. The production of oleo from beef suet has also furnished the by-product of stearine, which enters largely into the manufacture of lard substitutes, to give body and consistency to imitation lard. This adulteration of lard has brought American lard into disrepute in foreign markets, and reduced the demand. The surplus of pure lard continues great, and its extent fixes the price. The healthfulness of American pork, like that of our beef, has been a distinguishing |