298 



Missouri Agricultural Report. 



THE SOUTH AS AN OUTLOOK FOR THE HOG INDUSTRY. 



(James A. McKee, Versailles, Ky.) 



To the members of the Duroc-Jersey Swine Breeders' 



Association I wish to express 

 my appreciation for the com- 

 pliment you have paid me in 

 selecting me to represent the 

 south before this association. 

 I trust that I may be able to 

 say something of interest to 

 you men of the north. 



Bringing together men 

 from different parts of the 

 country to discuss the ques- 

 tion of live stock is of the 

 greatest value to the live stock 

 organizations. It develops 

 new ideas, creates enthusiasm 

 and gives to each the oppor- 

 tunity to benefit by the ex- 

 perience of all others engaged 

 in the business. Such a 

 gathering must be for the betterment of all the breeds, and it 

 seems to me that your committee in charge must have felt that 

 there was some outlook in the south for the pure-bred business 

 or they would not have asked a man from that section to address 

 you. 



I believe before I tell you of the present conditions of hog 

 raising in the south that it will be necessary for me to review 

 the economic conditions existing there. Perhaps I shall have 

 to go a little farther and give you some idea of the state of things 

 in the south before the war. 



The south was divided into large landed estates which were 

 managed by overseers employed by the owners of the planta- 

 tions for that purpose. The men who owned these estates were 

 not personally engaged in the work; therefore they were not 

 familiar with its details, and the close of the Civil war found 

 the landowner not only deprived of his labor, but the experience 

 of his overseer also. In this impoverished and ignorant condi- 

 tion it was hard for him to become a successful agriculturalist or 



James A. McKee. 



