The other Company is considerably older. The Lemco and Oxo Company[103] illustrates the history of an idea which occurred in 1850 to Baron Justus von Liebig, who suggested that, instead of killing cattle for their hides and tallow and leaving the carcases to rot on the ground, ranchers might do well to devise an economical process of obtaining an extract of meat from the neglected beef. In 1865 the idea was at last put into practice. Baron Liebig says: "In 1862 I received a visit from Herr Giebert, an engineer of Hamburg, who had spent many years in South America and Uruguay, where hundreds of thousands of sheep and oxen are killed solely for the hides and fat. He told me that directly he saw my account of the preparation of this extract he came to Munich with the intention of learning the process and then returning to South America in order to undertake its manufacture on a large scale. I therefore recommended Herr Giebert to Professor Pettenkofer, who willingly made him familiar with every detail of the process. He then returned to Uruguay in the summer of 1863, but, owing to many difficulties which generally hinder the introduction and management of a new business, it was almost a year before he could actually commence the manufacture." It was arranged that the extract should be called Liebig, and in due course the first sample of about 80 lbs. of beef extract arrived at Munich, and was pronounced highly satisfactory, considering that it was "a product from the flesh of half-wild animals." These pioneer attempts were quickly absorbed by Lemco and Oxo. The beginning was made in Uruguay, but now the Company owns ten estancias in Argentina, nine in Paraguay, and seven in Uruguay.[104] The chief Argentine estancia is at Colon in Entre Rios, about 180 miles north of Buenos Aires, but there are many others, both in that Province and Corrientes, including La Luisa, Jubileo, Chacra, and Curuzu Laurel, as well as numerous hired farms. The total area of the estates very nearly equals that of Kent and Surrey put together. Some of the estancias are larger than the Isle of Wight. The soil is fertile, the climate genial, there is an inexhaustible water supply, and an ample rainfall. All products can be shipped direct from Colon. The great feature of Camp conditions and the main element of success in the meat industry is the splendid open-air and free life which, with abundance of sweet grass, is the deadly enemy of the tubercle bacillus. In the whole of Argentina the cattle that come to the freezing and preserving establishments show usually an average of under 1 per cent. afflicted with tuberculosis. These results are not surprising, seeing that the one known remedy for consumption is the open-air life. [Illustration: PURE BRED HEREFORD BULL (OXO).]