94
ON THE LIVE-STOCK
To calculate from these data the quantity of beef returnedfrom an acre of good pasture and turnips, two circumstancesdeserve attention, first, the price of beef per stone sinkingthe offals; and second, the difference, if any, between thatand the lean price,
With regard to the price of beef, it must be observed, thatit not only varies in different years, but at different seasonsof the same year, From the beginning of April to the mid-dle of June it is commonly from 10 to 20 per cent, higher thanduring the rest of the year. About the latter period sheepand lambs begin to come to market in such numbers as toreduce the price of all kinds of butcher meat considerably;and this depression commonly continues till Christmas , whenprices again begin to rise. Taking the ayerage of severalyears past, beef may be rated at 8 s, per stone sinking the of-fals, though it has been lately somewhat more.
A similar fluctuation takes place in the lean weight. Inthe great penury of fodder in 1807, there were some cattlesold in the county of Kincardine as low as 1 s. a stone. In1792, graziers in the same county gave 6 s. 8 d. In someyears, it has been as high as 10s.; and in October 1808, itwas getting up to 8 s. all per stone Amsterdam, or 1J stoneavoirdupois *. The highest prices are calculated on beasts on-ly half fed. At the late markets of Falkirk and Edinburgh ,(October and November 1813), cattle in good conditionsold at the rate of 10s., or 8 s. a stone avoirdupois, which isjust the same as the average price of fat beef already stated.
If the lean and fat prices per stone are equal, the advan-ced value of the animal must be owing to weight gained; andpasture producing L. 6 per acre, when beef sells at 8 s. astone, sinking the offals, must return IS stones, or 210 lbs.avoirdupois. This is only one stone less t]ian an acre ofgood feeding pasture in Berwickshire has been estimated toreturn f, by adifferent mode of calculation, and this near a-
* Kincardineshire Report, p. 3812.f Berwickshire Report, p. 327.