Food from the far West, or, American agriculture : with special reference to beef production and importation of dead meat from America to Great Britain

Contents

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CHAP.

I. The Feeling in New York, and Position of the

Preface

The main portion of the matter making up this volume was written in the form of letters from the United States and Canada to the “Scotsman” newspaper, the proprietors of that journal having commissioned the writer to visit America with the view of giving to British farmers, through its columns, some trustworthy information on a subject threatening seriously to affect their welfare — namely, the importation of dead meat from the Far West. The letters have been carefully revised, altered, and supplemented ; while four fresh chapters have been introduced — two on “American Shorthorn-Breeding;” one “Statistical;” and one on “What Science says to the Cattle-Feeder.” The first and second refer to the supply of shorthorns in America, to their use in the improvement of the general cattle stock of the country, and to the leading features of shorthorn-breeding as now carried on in the United States. The Statistical chapter shows the amount of dead

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meat imported from the United States since the commencement of the trade, and also indicates the figures at which the different varieties of American beef might be sold in British markets. The chapter on “What Science says to the Cattle-Feeder” is meant to give “ backbone ” to the practical recommendations in the chapter that precedes it.

Aberdeen, January 1878.

Introduction

When the repeal of the Corn Laws, some thirty years ago, was supposed to have broken the strongest staff of the British farmers, they found some ground for consolation in a survey of their probable position. It was believed that, by quickening general operations, and extending their special care over another field up till that time partially neglected, they might yet live and maintain the position of their honourable calling. British meat-markets were still practically at the command of the home producer ; and increased attention was forthwith directed to the breeding and feeding of cattle and sheep, which up to that time had occupied but a secondary place in the calendar of the British farmer, and which, in most parts of the country, were conducted in a primitive and unprofitable manner. The enterprise was capable of great development ; and it developed rapidly. The supply and demand grew apace, while prices kept gradually moving upwards. For several years past the mainstay

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of the Scottish farmer, and a strong support to his brethren in England and Ireland, has been the profit gained from beef and mutton.

No wonder, then, that great anxiety was aroused among British agriculturists, little more than a year ago, when they were told that, by a simple Yankee invention, the price of beef and mutton in British markets would be reduced 15 or 25 per cent. This time they saw no undeveloped branch of farming lying behind them upon which they might fall back, and to many the situation seemed far more threatening than during the Corn Law crisis. Our friendly rivals in the West have been sending us large quantities of cured meat for several years ; while some four or five years ago numerous bold attempts were made to transport live American cattle across the Atlantic. The measure of success attained, however, was not satisfactory in either case ; and it became evident that, if ever America were to send its beef and mutton as freely into British markets as it sends its grain, the meat would have to come in the carcase. But how was this to be accomplished ? How was the dead meat to be kept fresh during a ten days’ sea voyage? Few problems — commercial problems, at least — seem too deep for the inventive genius of the Yankee; and difficult as this one seemed, he at last laid bare its secret. He saw that tropical fruits vvere being conveyed from

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xi the Southern States to New York, and kept perfectly fresh and sweet, by being enclosed in an atmosphere artificially cooled ; and it naturally occurred to him that dead meat might be preserved during its voyage across the Atlantic in a similar manner. In the beginning of the winter of 1875-76 the experiment was tried, and, as all the world already knows, proved highly successful.

The imports were insignificant during the first six or eight months; but as the winter of 1876-77 approached they began to grow rapidly — reaching no less than 2,719,568 lbs. in October 1876, and 4,193,980 lbs. the following month. The arrivals increased alarmingly towards the spring of 1877, and, as might have been expected, the subject began to interest the public mind. Speeches were made upon it, papers read, and discussions took place all over the country ; and turn where one might, the all-absorbing topic was “ American beef.”

The following, from the leading columns of the “Scotsman” of May 2, 1877, affords a reflex of the position of the subject at that time, and also explains the origin and object of the matter that forms this volume : —

“ Since the days when Sir Robert Peel removed the protective duties from foreign meat imported into this country there has not been a time of greater interest,

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alike to farmers and consumers, than the present, when the home trade finds in the American grazier a formidable competitor in the dead-meat markets. His competition is no longer merely threatened or experimental— it is an established fact, and a fact of rapidlyincreasing magnitude. About a thousand tons of American beef and mutton, in perfectly sound condition, are now landed every week at Liverpool and Glasgow. The import of fresh beef into the United Kingdom during the month of March last was 60,162 cwts., or very nearly six times the quantity imported in March 1876. For the three months ending with March the quantity was 131,249 cwts., against 24,084 in the same quarter last year. Yet the trade is only in its infancy, and, so far as our present knowledge extends, there seems no reason to doubt that its growth will be checked ultimately rather by the limitation of means of transport or by the absence of demand than by deficiency of supply. Before either of these causes can come into operation, the import must necessarily have attained such dimensions as to have a direct and serious effect upon British farming, and many of our agriculturists are no doubt by this time earnestly pondering the question, What will that effect be? The community generally may have a different interest in the subject. A reduction of 2d. or 3d. a lb. in the price of beef would be an immense boon

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XUl to the consumer, and would assuredly be followed by an increase of consumption. But a like or approximate fall in the prices which the home grower of stock is able to command for his produce would in very many instances engulf his whole margin of profits. There is no necessity to pause here in order to demonstrate what has of late been sufficiently illustrated in our columns — that farming as a trade is not in as healthy a condition as is desirable. People conversant with the subject will be ready to acknowledge that at the present time the main dependence of a very large number of Scotch farmers is on stock ; and a depreciation of from 15 to 25 per cent, in the market value of their principal commodity — which competent authorities, after careful investigation of the subject, believe will be brought about by the development of the American dead-meat trade — might be ruinous to numbers, and a cause of heavy loss to all. It must not be forgotten that, whether or not the public get the full benefit of the reduction in value, the meatgrowers will feel, and very speedily feel, the full effect of it ; the middlemen will take care of that.

“ If the old Protectionist system had still been in vogue, this question would never have arisen ; or, if it had, would have been disposed of by a prohibitory duty imposed on American meat at the instance of the landed and agricultural interest. But our farmers

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themselves would nowadays be the last to demand that the whole nation should be compelled to pay twice the market value for meat in order that they might carry on their business at a profit. Nobody has publicly expressed, or is likely to express, the least feeling of hostility to the new trade. All that can be done is to take the facts as they are, to make the best of them, and to endeavour to gauge their full effect on the future of British farming. It is admitted on all hands that Scotch or English beef, if it can meet the American commodity in the market on equal terms, will always hold its own ; but a difference of 2d. to 3d. a lb. in the price in favour of the imported meat will give that the preference. Not, indeed, in all cases ; what is known in the trade as “ prime Scotch beef” will, in all likelihood, continue, through its sheer superiority, to retain the first place in the public favour, and to command a price as high, or nearly as high, as that at which it is at present quoted. But while there is a certain difference of opinion as to the quality of the American beef, it is generally admitted to be on the whole quite as good as the second-rate home-grown meat ; and if it can be permanently supplied at a considerably lower price, it will find a ready sale. In order, therefore, that the Scotch or English producer should know what he has to face, he must first have clear information on two

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xv or three points. Can the American farmer raise beef and mutton of good quality, carry it across the Atlantic, and put it on the British market in sound condition, at 2d. a lb. below the present ruling prices for home-grown meat? If he can, what is the extent of the present available supply, and what the possibilities of its increasing in accordance with the probable demand on this side of the water? Without precise knowledge on these points it is useless to try to forecast the future prospects of British stock-farming; and such precise knowledge is by no means to be had for the asking. Much has been already said and written about the new trade, but the greater proportion of the statements made have been speculation and inference rather than the record of ascertained fact; and even the most valuable of them have been based on incomplete observation, or on merely local experience of American farming.

“ Having this in mind, we have thought it expedient to take measures for giving to Scottish agriculturists the accurate information which is their first necessity in order to estimate the probable effect on their industry of the American competition. A member of the “Scotsman ” permanent staff has been sent to the United States to examine into and report upon all those circumstances of American agriculture which have any bearing upon this subject. That he is thoroughly

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qualified for the task we have some right to infer, because he has had long experience in the work of the agricultural department of the “Scotsman,” has for several years attended in our interest all the important shows of agricultural stock, both in England and Scotland, and is perfectly familiar with the conditions of Scottish farming. In proof of this it may be worth while to mention that the gentleman in question is the author of the Highland and Agricultural Society’s prize essays for the three successive years 1874, 1875, and 1876, on subjects connected with the agriculture of Scotland. His mission in America is to make the fullest possible inquiry into everything connected with the stock-raising department of agriculture ; his whole time and energies will be devoted exclusively to this work ; and in order that it may be effectually done, he is unrestricted as to the time he devotes to his investigations or the extent of their area. His chief aim will be to ascertain and to state facts ; his own inferences from these may come at a later stage of the inquiry. These facts Scottish agriculturists will be able to compare and weigh for themselves ; and in that way — and in that way only — will it be possible to determine the full significance of the competition of American cattle-growers in the British dead-meat market.”

FOOD FROM THE FAR WEST.

Chapter I. The Feeling In New York, And Position Of The Trade There

The Outward Voyage.— The Objects of the Inquiry.— Probable Emigration. The Feeling in New York. — The Interest among Exporters, Butchers, Salesmen, and Farmers. — The Exporting Trade Overdone.— TiieExporting Firms.— Their Exports.— The Processes of Preservation. — The Total Exports of Beef and Mutton. None but Choice Cattle Exported. — Where they come from.— The Relative Quality of Beef and Mutton. The Impression regarding the Trade among Interested Parties.— Necessity the Origin of the Trade.— Brother Jonathan's Amusement at the Tone of Feeling in Britain.— A Dark Picture for British Farmers.

Dr Johnson gets the credit of having stigmatized a ship at sea as “a prison afloat, with the agreeable chance of being drowned.” The remark may have been applicable enough in the days of the celebrated Doctor ; but, in these later times, a trip across the Atlantic in a well-equipped “Cunarder” certainly savours more of a ten days of feasting and holiday-making at a first-class hotel than a period pf prison confinement. The “ Algeria, ” a fine iron screw steamer of 3376 gross tonnage, 500 horse-

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power, and commanded by Captain Watson, a most attentive and efficient officer, steamed out of the Mersey for New York about noon on Saturday, the 31st ult. (March 1877), having bn board forty saloon passengers and eighty-seven steerage passengers. We had a stay at Queenstown (waiting for the mails) of nearly nine hours, and for two days encountered a strong head wind, which culminated on the night of Tuesday, the 3d inst. (April 1877), in a gale which was strong enough to tear one of the sails to shreds. Nevertheless we wrere landed on terra firma in the New World about 4 p.m. on Tuesday, the 10th. After the gale subsided, the average daily “run” was about 325 miles; and from noon on the 9th till noon on the 10th we made no less than 345 miles. Except on the Tuesday and Wednesday of the first week (during the gale), the passengers found the voyage a most enjoyable experience. To most of us it was indeed a real holiday — recruiting both to body and mind. Tuesday was a beautiful day, calm, clear, and genial, with a bright sun overhead ; and thus \xc got our first glimpse of the shores of the New World under most favourable circumstances. The view on approaching the mouth of the Hudson River has long been renowmed as one of the finest sights of the kind in the globe, and to those of us on board the “ Algeria ” who had crossed the Atlantic for the first time it wras indeed grand. A homeward-bound steamer passed us in the Hudson, and a silver-locked, good-humoured, Americanised Englishman, who had done much to while awray the lonely hours at

THE OBJECTS OF THE INQUIRY.

sea by unfolding his inexhaustible stock of anecdotes and jokes, bawled out, “Guess that’s a Guion steamer laden with American beef. Why, she’s almost out of sight.” She was indeed “ deep ” (to appropriate the parlance ot our stalwart “ bosen ” ), and, as inquiries the following day verified, a large part of the heavy cargo was American beef bound for the British markets.

In these few preliminary remarks it may be stated that those notes which it is proposed to publish will be confined, in the first place at anyrate, mainly to facts, along with any worthy American opinions that may turn up. The writer’s own impressions may follow afterwards. It cannot be said that the amount of information that has been published regarding farming in the Far West is limited; there is, in fact, a great deal more literature of this kind referring to America than to Scotland, but (whether justly or unjustly it need not now be decided) complete reliance has not been placed upon those glowing accounts that have reached the Old World of the farming and prospects of the New, especially those which refer to the States in the South and Far West, which are as yet but partially settled and almost wholly uncultivated. One prominent object of the inquiries about to be made is to correct or verify those “ glowing accounts. ” Too much must not be promised at the outset, but one thing at least shall be made certain, and that is impartiality. The notes shall be nothing if not impartial.

The “ young ” States in the South and Far West, of which least reliable information is to be had, arc those that,

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according to our present information, most immediately affect the importation trade, and therefore more attention will be bestowed on these than on the older and better known States, the published accounts of which are as a rule more trustworthy than those referring to the newly explored regions of the West. Should the American beef importations bring down the price of British beef to the extent of 15 or 20 per cent., and thus cut away the most important item of profit that can be had from farming in the Old World at present, in all probability large numbers of Scotch, English, and Irish farmers, especially of the former, will emigrate to America ; and therefore the prospects held out to emigrants or settlers in the different States shall not be overlooked.

Considering the great interest felt in the matter in England and Scotland, it is rather surprising to find that the newly -opened enterprise has attracted very little attention in New York. It has received but scant notice from the newspapers, and in private circles it has seldom been a topic of conversation. Business men in New Yoik seem to know that such a trade has been begun, but little more, and politicians have been so busy with election affairs of late that no other matters have obtained entrance into their craniums. Almost all the interest that has been shown on the subject is confined to those immediately connected ■with it — exporters, butchers, cattle-salesmen, and farmers. In these circles, however, a keen interest is manifested.

For some time Mr Eastman, New York, was alone in the trade, but now there are no fewer than seven firms

THE EXPORTING TRADE OVERDONE. 5 engaged in the experiment. Considering the ready sale and the favourable reception that Mr Eastman’s first consignments met with, it was only natural to expect a large and speedy extension of the trade ; but there can be little doubt that it has already been overdone — that too many have embarked in the business, and that some of the firms may come to grief before things reach their level. A very considerable amount of capital is required by the exporter. He has to erect the refrigerators in the ships himself, and, besides having to pay a heavy premium for space in the vessels, he has to erect refrigerators at his killing-yard ; and, therefore, unless a very substantial return can be had from the British markets, his books would very soon show an ugly balance on the wrong side. All the lines sailing between England 'and Scotland and New York and Philadelphia — eight in number — carry meat, and now it is very seldom that a steamer leaves the Hudson for British ports without having on board several tons of both beef and mutton.

Mr Eastman is still the largest exporter. He ships, with the Bates process of preservation (by which cold air is fanned off ice on to the meat) by the Williams and Guion and the White Star lines to Liverpool, and by the Anchor line to Glasgow ; and his weekly exports average about 1000 cattle, or 4000 quarters of beef. Messrs Sherman & Gillet, Jersey City, export about 2000 quarters of beef weekly, using Dr Craven’s process— a freezing mixture forced along pipes running between the rows of beef— to Bristol and Liverpool, by Cunard, Inman, and other

FOOD FROM THE FAR WEST.

steamers. Messrs D. Toffey & Bros., Jersey City, ship about 1200 quarters of beef weekly, by the Banta (fanning) process, per the State line to Glasgow and the National line to Liverpool. Messrs Martin, Fuller, & Co., Philadelphia, ship about 1400 quarters of beef every week from Philadelphia, using the Bray (fanning) process, by the American steamers to Liverpool ; and Messrs Morris & Sherman, who use Dr Craven’s process, send 1000 quarters by the same steamers to the same port. Messrs Snowden & M'Conville export every week about 600 quarters of beef by three National steamers to London ; and Mr F. Samuels sends 300 quarters of beef weekly to the same port, using the Smiley (fanning) process.

It will thus be seen that about 10,500 quarters of beef, weighing from 180 to 200 lbs. each, now leave New York and Philadelphia every week for the British markets; and in addition to this about 2000 carcases of mutton are exported to the same markets weekly. Both sheep and cattle are brought into the stock sales either by the farmers themselves or in consignments by stock agents — the latter system being the more general— and then purchased by the exporters— cattle alive and sheep dead. After the animal is killed the meat hangs for about two hours to allow the natural heat to escape, and then it is hung in the refrigerators in the yard until transferred to the refrigerators in the ships. Large permanent refrigerators have been erected at the Jersey City Stock- Yards, and Mr Eastman has built and fitted up a large building for himself in New York City, while a new firm has leased an old slaughter-house in Jersey

NONE BUT CHOICE CATTLE EXPORTED. 7

City with the view of going into the export trade. Other firms than those mentioned are engaged in the export of sheep, but the mutton is all conveyed across the Atlantic in name of these firms, as in this way it can be carried almost free of all cost. The exporter pays so much for space in a steamer to erect a refrigerator, and between the rows of sides of beef there is ample room for a row of carcases of mutton — space that would otherwise be unoccupied.

The cattle and beef exported are the choicest lots to be had, and, as a rule, the cattle come from Illinois, Kentucky, and Ohio, and the sheep from Ohio and Kentucky, and a few from Canada. Among the cattle that were being slaughtered at Jersey City Stock-Yards on the day of my visit to them, for export to Britain the following day, were a few very fair bullocks four and five years old, but still the large majority were inferior, rough, and ill-fed. A lot of calves, well bred, but lean, were stalled for killing, and several very nice quarters of stot beef were being hung into the refrigerators. A few pretty heavy carcases of mutton were newly dressed, but the quality was far behind that of Scotch mutton, much inferior, in fact, to the beef that hung alongside. Yankees are rough butchers, and truly the sight in the slaughter-house was not inviting.

The general impression among the exporters, butchers, and cattle-salesmen is that the trade will speedily become large and permanent, and that it will continue quite as successfully during the warmest season in summer as in winter. They think that the supply is unlimited, and likely

FOOD FROM THE FAR WEST.

to continue so ; that the rates of conveyance will remain as at present, or at any rate not advance much ; and that for at least twenty-five or thirty years the cost of beef production in America will remain as low as it is now. They do not think the exportation trade will affect the retail prices in New York to any appreciable extent. It had already raised the better quality of beef about one cent, per pound, but it is not expected that it will bring about a further increase. The cattle already exported seem to have been for the most part surplus cattle which, in the present dull state of trade, it would have been difficult to have got rid of advantageously at-home. Necessity is still the mother of invention !

The salesmen and a few others I have met in New York seem greatly amused at the feeling on the subject in the old country. They are perfectly surprised at it. They cannot imagine how the people of the mother country can have the slightest doubt as to the ability cf the United States to regulate the British meat markets. One gentleman argued that Britain’s thriving child in the West would feed its venerable parent for all time coming ! He looked upon this exportation trade as a grand thing for the Union. What they want here, he said, is a whole host of honest, industrious Scotch agriculturists, with a fair amount of capital, to cultivate and people their vast prairies, and he is very hopeful that the dead-meat trade now going on so promisingly may do much good work in this way, by starving the “ Britishers ” out of their own homes, and forcing them to emigrate. Unfortunate British farmer ! thy days of plenty are past ! So says Brother Jonathan.

Chapter II. The Feeling In Government Circles

Flow the Subject is Viewed in Rural Circles. — A Multitude of Believers. — A Few Sceptics.— Exportation of Live Stock to Britain. — The United States Government and Agriculture. — How the Dead-Meat Trade is viewed in Government Circles. —The Want of Outlet for Produce the great Barrier to Emigration. — Indian Corn used as Fuel. — The Dead-Meat Trade may form a new Outlet. — Wiiat the Commissioner of Agriculture says. — Another Influential Official’s Opinion. — The Exports of Mutton. — Mutton as an Article of Food in America. — Wool the Harvest of the American Sheep- Farmer.

Naturally enough, the talk in rural districts is more of corn and cattle than in busy commercial circles, and therefore one might be prepared to find that the newly-opened American dead-meat trade has excited much more interest among the farmers of the Union than in its large cities and towns. Among farmers and others interested in the live-stock trade it has been one of the chief topics of conversation and discussion since its commencement; and it is asserted that these farmers and cattle-dealers are fully alive to the importance and advantages of the new outlet for American farm produce, and that they are sparing no effort to secure for themselves and their country the full benefits of the new enterprise. It is said that they believe

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firmly the trade will become a permanent and growing trade ; that they are perfectly convinced of their ability, for many years to come, to undersell the British farmer in his own market ; and that their time and attention are now being turned mainly to the rearing and feeding of a larger number of a better class of both cattle and sheep — all which, it is argued, will result (in less than two years) in the rearing and feeding of two stots of good quality where one above mediocrity was reared and fed before. Among the multitude of believers, however, there are a few sceptics — men with little confidence in the trade becoming permanent, or of its conferring any great advantage upon the States. They admit that the cost of production is likely to remain almost as low as it now is for twenty years — probably a quarter of a century ; but they think that the outlays for conveyance, especially on rail before the steamer is reached, will very soon become so high as to eat up all the profits and a great deal more. They also fear that the demand in the British markets will not continue long so large as at present ; that as soon as the atmosphere is clear, of rinderpest the farmers of the continent of Europe will step in and take the place the United States farmers now occupy. Some also think it extremely probable that, once the novelty and agitation that now support the trade have faded away, American beef will not find so much favour among the meat-consumers of Great Britain. As yet I have met with nothing sufficient either to confirm, or contradict any of these opinions and statements ; but, before leaving the States, I

EXPORTATION OF LIVE STOCK.

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may be able to sift at least some of them and see what they are worth.

Two firms — Messrs Snowden & M'Conville, and Mr Samuels — have been shipping live cattle from New York and Philadelphia for England for a few months past, and the other week a large cargo of live beeves left Boston for the same destination. It is not generally believed, however, that this trade will meet with anything like the same amount of success as the dead-meat enterprise. When the cattle get favourable weather on their way across, and are treated kindly and carefully, they are seldom much the worse for their voyage ; but, with stormy weather and the rough treatment usually bestowed on animals in course of transit by sea, they invariably I'each the British shambles in anything but good trim for slaughter. The beef, in fact, often gets greatly damaged. Some think that the exporting of young lean cattle to England and Scotland, to be fed there, would form a more wholesome and more hopeful trade, and it is probable it may be tried scon.