679 



fed to the point where the qiiiintity of fat in the meat is reasonable and 

 tlie flavor accicptable, they are shiughtered. For him to keep on feeding 

 them and transform a large amount of the protein, fats, and carbohy- 

 drates of his feeding stuffs into a relatively small amount of extra fat 

 in the meat would be ruinous to the profit of his feeding. 



The excessive production of fat in our meats is uneconomical in sev- 

 eral ways. A large anjount of vegetable material is required to make 

 a small amount of fat, protein is h)st in the process, and the fat thus 

 produced is sold in a market relatively overstocked with fat. 



The pork producers of the great corn-growing States select the l)reeds 

 of swine which, as they say, "will take the most corn to market," and 

 have thus got into the way of growing animals that are, to use a com- 

 mon expression '^little else than masses of fat.'' 



The success which swine breeders have attained in producing animals 

 especially fitted for fattening is opposed to true economy. What is 

 neede<l is to save our protein and produce less fat and carbohydrates. 

 But the hog as bred for fattening is an organism with a phenomenal 

 capacity for consuming protein and carbohydrates and liroducing fats. 



Concerning the bad economy of our pork making, it may be i)er- 

 mitted to rej^eat here what I have said in another place.* 



The pork producer in this country has come to he essentially a manufacturer 

 of fat. Like other manufacturers he must compete in the markets of the world, 

 home and foreis^. He meets serious competition in the fat of other meats, in cotton- 

 seed oil, in sugar, and in petroleum. The home market is relatively overstocked 

 with fat pork. * * * 



There are, then, two things for the pork producer to do : Make leaner pork and get 

 better access to foreign markets. Leaner pork can be obtained by the use of nitrog- 

 enous foods, skim milk, bran, shorts, cotton-seed meal if it can be advantageously 

 utilized, beans, peas, clover, alfalfa, and other leguminous plants. It is, however, 

 impracticable for many pork producers to change their system of feeding at once. The 

 bulk of the pork of the conntiy is and for some time must be manufactured from corn, 

 but where nitrogenous foods are available they should be used, and where they are not 

 available an attempt should be made to introduce them. Here is a strong reason 

 for experiments with leguminous forage plants; besides helping to make leaner pork 

 they have the advantage that with them poor hay, straw, and cornstalks can be util- 

 ized and that they make rich manure. 



To facilitate access to foreign markets, the facts regarding the need and value of 

 our American jiroducts must be brought out clearly. Of course this will require 

 much research. The process must be slow and no one can positively predict the 

 results. But it is at any rate safe to say that the facts now at hand are such as to 

 promise an argument of the strongest character. 



There is here a suggestion for dairymen in the Eastern States. Skim 

 milk is richer in protein and on that account is excellent not simply for 

 making pork, but making the lean pork that a rational diet calls for 

 in place of the excessively fat product with which the market is flooded. 



The service which a number of our stations have rendered in call- 

 ing attention to the fact that our overfat pork is made by excess of 



" Annual Rex)ort of the Secretary of Agriculture, 1889, p. 519. 



