states. The countries sending the greatest number of Wiltshire sides to Great 

 Britain are Denmark, Canada, and Ireland. Generally speaking, hogs cannot be 

 grown so cheaply in Canada and Denmark as they can in the United States, par- 

 ticularly in the corn belt; but, on the other hand, Wiltshire sides usually command 

 a higher price per pound in England than the meat of the lard hog. This higher, 

 price for finished product affords some protection to the swine industry in Canada 

 and Denmark, and it was to escape direct competition with the American product 

 in Great Britain that Canada and Denmark engaged in the production of bacon 

 hogs and the manufacture of Wiltshire sides. Such an arrangement seems to be 

 the part of wisdom, each country devoting its attention to the type of hog which it 

 can produce to best advantage. 



The Bacox Type. 



To produce a good Wiltshire side of bacon requires a hog of certain definite 

 peculiarities as to weight, condition, and conformation. The customers for this 



Fig. 1. — Pair of export bacon liogs. 



class of bacon are extremely fastidious, and. if the bacon does not come up to the 

 standard in every particular, it is very heavily discounted in price. As a rule, the 

 weight limits are usually fixed at 160 pounds to 200 pounds live weight. It is 

 true that a hog may weigh slightly more than 200 pounds and still make a very 

 good Wiltshire side, but most hogs are inclined to be too fat after they pass the 

 200-pound mark, and consequently this is fixed as the limit, though it is not 

 strictly adiiered to. As to condition, it is possible to have the hog too thin or too 

 fat. When the carcass is split down the back, the layer of fat along the back 

 should run from an inch to an inch and a quarter in thickness, and should be as 

 uniform in thickness as possible from the loin to the neck. The most valuable 

 meat in a Wiltshire side is the upper part of the side from the liam to the back of 

 the shoulder, including the upper corner of the gammon or ham, the loin, and the 

 upper half of the ribs. The lower part of ham and the flank and belly meat are 



