Among the early exports of cattle and beef from this country may be noted those shipped from Savannah, in Georgia, in 1755, which consisted of 16 steers and 40 barrels of beef. In 1770, there were exported from the same place 28 steers and cows, 639 barrels of beef, and 4,985 pounds of tallow. In 1772, there were shipped from that port 136 steers and cows. The amount of beef exported from Charleston, South Carolina, in 1747-48, was 1,764 barrels, besides 130 casks of butter; in 1754, 416 barrels; from Philadelphia, in 1752, 3,431 barrels; in 1767, 609 barrels; in 1796, 6,860 barrels. The amount of beef exported from the United States in 1791 was 62,771 barrels; in 1800, 75,045 barrels; in 1810, 47,699 barrels; in 1815, 13,130 barrels. The number, quantities, and values of horned cattle and their products, exported from the United States within the last thirty-three years, are shown by the following table:

According to the census returns of 1840, the number of horned animals in the United States was 14,971,586; of 1850, there were 6,385,094 cows, 1,700,744 oxen, and 9,693, 069 other cattle, one year old and older, (in the aggregate, 17,778,907;) showing an increase of 2,807,321. The present number of cattle may be estimated at 20,000,000, which, at $20 each, would amount to $400,000,000.

CONDENSED CORRESPONDENCE.

Statement of JOSEPH CORNISH, of East Granby, Hartford county, Con

necticut.

This county has long been noted for its well-matched, fine working oxen, as well as for its cows. The Devon and Durham breeds have been so long in use here, that the common cattle of the country have almost disappeared.

The cost of raising until three years old is about $25 each. The usual price of a good pair of steers is from $60 to $100. One yoke under three years old sold for $125; another yoke for $175. Heifers are worth from $25 to $40 each; new milch cows, from $35 to $75 each.

Statement of T. L. HART, of West Cornwall, Litchfield county, Con

necticut.

It is believed by our farmers that a given quantity of food will produce more meat when fed to half-bloods, or to the first cross between the Devons and Durhams, the Devons and Herefords, or the Devons and our common stock, than when fed to any full-bloods. It has also been found that the first cross or half-blooded animals is very beneficial, often producing progeny superior in most respects to either of the parents.

The cost of raising until three years old is $30 each; and our best Devon steers, well trained, will sometimes sell as high as $125 per yoke; the usual price is $60 to $80. The price of dairy cows in the fall is $20 to $30; in the spring, about $10 to $12 more.

Statement of ANTHONY M. HIGGINS, of Wilmington, New Castle county. Delaware.

As near as can be ascertained, about 1,800 head of cattle-average weight when fat about 700 pounds each-have been fed in this district, and sold at from $7 to $8 per hundred. It is estimated that about 2,500 head will be required to supply the wants of our farmers. Grazing is annually increasing, as we subdivide our fields for that pur

pose.

This year, cattle have been ruled unusually high, generally oringing from 50 to 100 per cent. on the investment, independent of the improved quality of the manure, especially when fed on corn-meal. Our supply is obtained from the west, yet our soil and climate are well adapted to rearing full-sized animals.

I raise my own oxen, which, when broken into yoke at three years old, with ordinary keeping, generally weigh from 1,000 to 1,200 pounds live weight. They are also very extensively used by our farmers. Sometimes they sell as high as $200 for a single pair. They are worked a year or two, and then fattened for show-beef. I recommend the Devon stock for working oxen; they are noted for their docility and quick gait, and are also very fair as to milking qualities.

Statement of J. E. McCLUNG, of Bloomington, McLean county, Illinois. Cattle raising is the great business of Illinois. The Durham is preferred to any other breed. The cost of raising a three-year-old steer is from $12 to $15, and brings from $18 to $25. A good dairy cow in the spring is worth $25, and the same animal in the succeeding fall from $15 to $18.

Statement of WILLIAM J. PHELPS, of Elmwood, Peoria county, Illinois.

In feeding cattle we adopt the Ohio and Kentucky system. The cern is cut and shocked in the field, whence it is hauled as needed to the feeding lots, which are changed and alternated from day to day, the cattle being followed by three or four times the number of hogs, which are wintered in the best manner upon the excrement and waste. By remaining on the stalk, the ears are soft and are masticated with ease; the blades and stalks furnish excellent fodder, and the process of fattening is carried on as rapidly, and at much less expense than upon ground food fed in stalls.

Statement of EDWIN WINSHIP, of Winship's Mills, Clinton county, Indiana.

We have in this county a number of individuals who are engaged in buying cattle in small lots, and taking them to the prairies, where they collect large numbers to sell to drovers from Ohio and Pennsylvania.

These cattle are kept on the prairie s in Indiana and Illinois, in the following manner: The owner selects his location for grazing early in the spring, hires a man to herd them, and furnishes him with a pony, and prepares a lot called a "pound" to put them in at night. As soon as the grass starts in the spring, he takes his cattle to the grazing ground, adjacent to some farmer on the edge of the prairie. He starts his cattle out in the prairie early in the morning by themselves. After breakfast he mounts his horse, follows them some two or three miles, and keeps them together where the grass is plenty and sweet, until He then comes in to his dinner, feeds his horse, and then returns to his cattle to see if any have run astray. He remains with them until night, when he brings them in and puts them in the pound for the night.

noon.

The cost of keeping a lot of cattle in this manner during the summer, is the herdsman's wages and board, and their salt. One hundred dollars will keep four or five hundred head of cattle during the summer. The cost of raising neat cattle here till three years old, is $3 50 per

annum, or $10 50 at that age. They are worth, on the spot, from $14 to $16 each. Milch cows, with their calves, are valued at from $12 to $25.

Statement of S. B. WARD, of Auburn, De Kalb county, Indiana.

Our county has been settled but for a few years, and there has been but little pains taken as yet in raising stock. Cows are worth from $12 to $20 per head; oxen, from $50 to $80 a yoke; two-year-old steers, from $10 to $15 a head; three-year-olds, from $15 to $25 a head.

Statement of SAMUEL D. MARTIN, near Pine Grove, Clarke county, Kentucky.

The cost of raising cattle here depends much upon the treatment they receive. Stock cattle are generally fed in winter upon the stalks and fodder of the corn which have been cut up in the fall and the ear taken off. This food would be wasted upon the farm if there were no stock to eat it. The fodder, with the corn off, can be purchased at from 5 to 10 cents a shock, and one shock will sustain ten head of cattle a day, though they would do better upon more. In summer. they are grazed upon the pastures. The probable cost of rearing is about 50 cents a month until they are grain fed. When they are to be fattened, a shock of corn, which contains about five bushels of grain, is given daily to every ten cattle. In this, each steer has about fifteen bushels of grain a month, which costs about $3. The benefit received by the hogs which glean after them is worth the labor of tending. Cattle are usually fed in this county upon the sod of the open pasture during winter.

The value of a bullock at maturity would depend greatly upon his size. Beef is worth here about 6 cents per pound. Most of our beef cattle are sold by weight; and if they are large and fat, 40 pounds per hundred is deducted from the gross weight; small cattle, 45 pounds. I have just sold my three-year-old Durham steers for $60 each. I have a lot of "scrubs," or unimproved cattle, which are worth $25 each, of the same age. A half-blooded Durham steer, at five years old, is worth about $20 more than a scrub at that age. The word "scrub" is used to designate our unimproved cattle, so that the first cross of Durham adds about $20 to the value of a scrub at that age.

The cost of transporting cattle to the Atlantic markets, varies much at the different seasons of the year. It is also influenced by the price of grain. With these variations the following prices may be considered as approaching very near the truth: Driven on foot to Cincinnati, and from thence by railroad to New York, takes 13 days, and costs about $13 each animal. Fed on grain, and driven on foot, 70 days to New York, early in the spring, costs about $13 each. Fed on early grass, and driven on foot, 60 days to Philadelphia, or 70 days to New York, costs from $8 to $9 each. Pastured on late grass, on foot, 60 to 70 days to Philadelphia and New York, costs from $5 to $6 each. The cost to Charleston and Savannah is about the same as to Philadelphia.

The cost to New Orleans by steamboat is about $10 each. The cost of transportation is also influenced by the stage of the river and other circumstances.

Statement of S. H. STARKS, of Benton, Marshall county, Kentucky.

The cost of raising cattle here until three years old, is about $7 each. Market value, from $8 to $10; milch cows, from $10 to $20 each.

Statement of MICAJAH BURNETT, of the United Society of Shakers, Pleas ant Hill, Mercer county, Kentucky.

There is a great decrease in the common stock of the county, and more than a corresponding increase in number of the short-horns. The superior excellence of this breed for the dairy and the market, points it out as the one that will be the most useful and profitable to be encouraged. They come to maturity a year-some say two years-earlier, grow much larger, thrive better, and take on flesh and fat faster, and with less feed, than the common stock; a number of our best graziers will feed no other kind. Those of the most experience on this subject are certainly best prepared to give an opinion, and, so far as my information extends, they, without an exception, give a decided preference to this breed. A cross from the thorough-bred short-horns on the common stock produces a striking improvement in every respect; and the further the cross is pursued, the more perfect the animal.

The society sold a lot of yearling Durham steers this season at $30 per head, while those of the same age of the common stock could have been purchased at from $10 to $15. Yearlings of the improved breed, if well kept, will weigh 1,000 pounds. Thirty-one of them were sold a few weeks since, in an adjoining county, which averaged per head 947 pounds. At from three to four years old they will weigh, if well kept, from 2,000 to 3,000 pounds live weight.

The society have been attentively and successfully engaged in breeding various kinds of improved stock for the last 35 years, and have bred with a view to improve the milking properties, while, to say the least, they have suffered them to fall off in no other good quality; and their efforts in this respect have not been unavailing, as they now have stock that will compare with any in the world, so far as milk is concerned. No section of country is more favorable to the improvement of stock than our own. The accidents of soil, climate, and other influences that affect or modify animal economy, are all favorable to the health, vigor⚫ous growth, early maturity, and longevity of this stock. Nothing, therefore, stands in the way of improvement except the want of proper attention and judicious management.

The cost of rearing calves until three years old is $10 each; of steers, from one to two years old, $15; from two to three years old, $20. The value of a thorough-bred yearling heifer is from $50 to $100; of a Durham cow, from $100 to $400; Durham steers, at one year old, $30 a pair; at three years old, from $80 to $100. Thorough-bred bulls bear very high prices. The comparative scarcity and excellence of these cattle is what keeps up the price to its present rate. Some of the beef