ising very much
in price for many years to come, apart from exceptional causes such
as bad seasons and 'corners'.

McCulloch, writing in 1843,[713] says that, except Denmark and
Ireland, no country of Western Europe 'has been in the habit of
exporting cattle'. Danish cattle, however, could rarely be sold in
London at a profit, and Irish cattle alone disturbed the equanimity
of the English farmer.

For a few years after the repeal of the corn laws and of the
prohibition of imports of live stock, the imports of live stock, meat,
and dairy produce were, except from Ireland, almost nil[714]; since
then they have increased enormously, and in 1907 the value of live
cattle, sheep, and pigs imported was L8,273,640, not so great,
however, as some years before, owing to restrictions imposed; but this
decrease has been made up by the increase in the imports of meat,
which in 1907 touched their highest figure of 18.751,555 cwt, valued
at the large sum of L41,697,905.[715]

Forty years ago hardly any foreign butter or cheese was imported;
to-day it is perhaps no exaggeration to say that not one hundredth
part of the butter eaten in London is British; in 1907 the amount of
butter imported was 4,310,156 cwt., and of cheese, 2,372,233 cwt. The
increase in the imports was largely assisted by the fact that in the
last half of the nineteenth century English farmers had directed their
attention chiefly to meat-producing animals and neglected the milch
cow. However, of late years great efforts have been made to recover
lost ground, and in England the number of cows and heifers in milk or
in calf has increased from 1,567,789 in 1878 to 2,020,340 in 1906.

The regulation of the imports and exports of live stock did not
concern the legislature so early as those of corn. One of the earliest
statutes on the subject is II Hen. VII, c. 13, which forbade the
export of horses and of mares worth more than 6s. 8d., because many
had been conveyed out of the land, so that there were few left for its
defence and the price of horses had been thereby increased. A
subsequent statute, 22 Hen. VIII, c. 7, says this law was disobeyed by
many who secretly exported horses, so it was enacted that no one
should export a horse without a licence; and 1 Edw. VI, c. 5,
continued this. But after this date the export of horses does not seem
to have occupied the attention of Parliament.

22 Hen. VIII, c. 7, also forbade the export of cattle and sheep
without a lic