=379. Commerce in other foodstuffs.=—In some respects even more striking, though on the whole of far less importance, has been the growth of foreign commerce in stock and meat. About 1800 the common way of marketing meat was to drive it to market on the hoof; the trip might consume a number of days, and the animal would arrive in poor condition and with weight diminished. For transportation to distant countries meat had to be preserved by pickling in brine. Fresh meat of good quality was a luxury, and the average consumption of meat was small. Modern progress has solved the problem of using the great grazing spaces of North and South America and Australia for the supply of distant peoples, in two ways. Improvements in transportation by land and sea have allowed the carriage of live-stock for thousands of miles, in good condition. The use of refrigerating appliances, especially artificial refrigeration by means of steam power, has permitted the carriage of dead meat the same distance without deterioration. Furthermore, the application of scientific principles to the preservation of meat has enabled supplies of that article to be utilized which would otherwise be wasted, and has contributed a new form of ware to modern trade. Other foodstuffs (fruit and fresh vegetables) have profited by similar advances in the means of transportation and preservation. =380. The textiles; changes in relative importance.=—In this brief survey only two more classes of wares may be noted, the textiles, and colonial products. Trade in wares of both these classes has undergone a great development and important transformation in the course of the century, though it presents no such revolutionary changes as in the case of wares described above. The textiles have continued to be among the most important wares of commerce. A population, advancing rapidly not only in numbers but in average purchasing power, has demanded constantly increasing supplies of clothing material. There has been, however, a noteworthy change in the kind of fabric demanded. Measuring by the weight of the raw material consumed, the English textiles about 1800 were composed as follows: over two fifths woolen, over two fifths linen, considerably less than one fifth cotton. Note now the change as shown by conditions about 1880: wool made up one fifth of the total, linen little more than one tenth, while cotton had risen to two thirds. For some purposes cotton fabrics are better than those of any other material, for other purposes they present a cheap and satisfactory substitute; and consequently they have been able to displace other textiles to a large extent.