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(short-horn cross) cows are kept. Oxen are also fed up (as stated by Mr. Prange as well as Mr. Latham) for the use of farmers, and the latter gentleman informs us that the produce of crosses of shorthorned and Hereford bulls with selected native cows, when somewhat extra care is taken to secure the even growth, is, as he has seen and proved, highly satisfactory, especially in the third or more advanced crosses, and " on the same feed, they will make nearly double the beef and fat that can be attained from the native breed." As to sheep, Leicester, Lincoln, Southdown, and Shopshiredown varieties have been imported and successfully intercrossed with native breeds.

Then with regard to the feeding process. The natural resources of the country appear likely to suffice, without the necessity of importing artificial food. There is "succulent, as well as tall, sedgy, and hard grass, ,"* and the grasses are more tender and less coarse in the province of Buenos Ayres than in the other provinces. We are informed also by the owners of large Estancias that some of the pastures teem with rye-grass and clover. Moreover, we find that many flesh, as well as fat-forming grains, such as wheat, barley, and Indian corn, are largely grown, whilst the oleaginous seeds, such as linseed, &c., could easily be cultivated. Mr. Latham even speaks of a wild thistle growing in "camps," and covering immense tracts of land, on the oleaginous seeds of which the sheep feed and grow fat. All the requisites for artificial feeding are therefore accessible, and there is really no reason why the finest stock should not be raised there, as it is in England. Nevertheless this work should not be left to untutored hands, and we cordially endorse Mr. Latham's recommendation, that if the attempt be made to produce and fatten stock for exportation, alive or dead, "such an initiatory and experimental undertaking must necessarily be placed under the direction of men who have a good practical and theoretical knowledge of cattle feeding, and also of the country, its climates, products and agricultural capabilities, together with perseverance and zeal."† As to the difficulties of conveying the meat to England when a good quality is obtained, those will, we think, be found to diminish year by year. If it has been possible to transport selected stock in safety from England to the Plate for breeding purposes, it is obvious that there can be no serious obstacles to the importation from thence of live stock, more especially if large steamers are fitted up for the purpose. In fact the Liverpool steamers to the River Plate have already commenced to carry deck-loads of live sheep from thence to Rio. The next plan is that of preservation in closed packages as already described, in which case the meat should be lean, and flesh-forming food should, we think, be largely used in the feeding

* Statos of the River Plate,' p. 15.

+ Ibid., p. 46.

process. Of the chemical preservative operations we have already spoken at length. At present they do not inspire much confidence where the object is to preserve meat for long voyages, for if there be anywhere in the world a fastidious diner, it is the Englishman of every rank. What improvements in these systems may be introduced concurrently with the production of an improved quality of meat abroad we are unable to say, but we would recommend those who are practically engaged in the rearing of cattle and the preservation of beef to turn their attention to the smoke drying and curing processes already in use. In this case also the cattle must not be too fat, for the fat decomposes more readily than the flesh and of the curing processes known to us, that which appears the most likely to be immediately successful and remunerative is the one by which "Hambro' smoked beef" is prepared. This kind of beef is becoming a great delicacy even in England; and as the breeders on the Plate have, from their associations and connections (many being Germans) peculiar facilities for perfecting the process there, where the raw meat has only a nominal value, we hope soon to see it sent over in large quantities, and of a quality equal to that now imported from Germany.

These are a few of the numerous devices by which it is sought to supply our home market with imported meat of a wholesome and nutritious description, and the reader will perceive that the resources of trade, navigation, art, and science are being brought to bear in the execution of this all-important object. There is no unmixed evil: indeed what we in our ignorance are apt to regard as an evil is often designed by Providence as the incentive to exertion and progress; had it not been for the alarm excited by the cattle plague, it is not improbable that the vast resources of the River Plate and of our own Australian Colonies, to the development of which the energies of the adventurous trader and agriculturist are now being directed, would have lain dormant for years to come, until perhaps, with an increased population, we should have found ourselves reduced to an extremity and exposed to fatal dangers which may now be happily averted.

II. ON THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF IRON AND STEEL.

By W. FAIRBAIRN, F.R.S.

HENRY BESSEMER, like his prototype, Cort, has effected a revolution in the manufacture of iron and steel; and the present improvements exhibit a means of development by which the former will ultimately double its strength, and in the state of steel be substituted for purposes of construction. The result of this change, when applied to structural purposes, is considerable, as half the weight of steel is equal in strength, and consequently is cheaper than a given weight of iron. In almost every case where iron is at present used, steel would then be employed: as in the construction of bridges, ships, and other structures to which iron is now applied. It only requires certainty and uniformity of character in its manufacture, to ensure its superiority and extend its application. This has not as yet been accomplished; but the Bessemer process, by depriving the crude metal of its carbon in a separate vessel, certainly tends in that direction; for by this process increased facilities are not only afforded, and new combinations formed, but the introduction of measured quantities of the same metal, containing the requisite quantity of carbon, poured into the converting vessel, appears to be the only true principle on which steel in its varied conditions of ductility, tenacity, &c., can be produced. These quantities, when duly proportioned, indicate the quality of the steel to be obtained from this process, and, when cast into ingots are ready either for the forge or the rolling-mill. From this it will be seen that every description of homogeneous iron or steel may be produced, care being taken to ascertain the exact percentage of carbon requisite to be infused in order to combine with the mass of refined metal.

This process of conversion as adopted by Mr. Bessemer is entirely new, when compared with the old method employed in the converting furnace with the bars embedded in charcoal, which required at least a fortnight for the refined iron to absorb the necessary quantity of carbon to form steel. By the new system steel is produced in the Bessemer vessel in less than twenty minutes, whereby a great saving of time, fuel, and other expenses is effected. As this process is extremely interesting, it may be briefly described as follows:

A quantity of pig-iron, containing an average quantity of carbon, say 5 per cent., is melted in one or more reverberatory furnaces, according to the size of the converting vessel to be used, which varies in capacity from five to ten or twelve tons. When the metal becomes fluid, it is run into the converting vessel, to which is

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