254 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



and the work executed in accordance with the Mendelian principles. It 

 has been said that Mendel's law will prove to be fundamental and that it 

 will be of the same value in explaining heredity as the law of definite 

 proportions is in explaining chemical changes. 



Mr. Thompson's paper closed the program prepared for the 

 meeting. JMr. J. J. Ferguson, representing Swift & Company, 

 made the following general remarks : 



I did not come out here to be heard so much as to hear, and before 

 saying anything I want to tell you why I am here. Mr. L. F. Swift asked 

 me to come and extend to the members of the Iowa Swine Breeders' 

 Association an invitation to come next year to Sioux City for their meet- 

 ing. We have fine stock yards and a well equipped packing house, and 

 Mr. Swift thought we could make it very interesting to the members of 

 the Association. It would do us good to get together, and we could 

 arrange some practical demonstrations of standsHjl types of the market 

 hog, and I think our men could clear up some of the points about which 

 you seem to be in doubt in regard to market types. I have been in the 

 packing business now for four years. Down at St. Louis I was fortunate 

 enough, or unfortunate enough, to be appointed judge of the market hog 

 on all different breeds and classes, and I have to say that I don't think 

 there is any more important subject in connection with swine breeding 

 than the question of the market type and what the packer wants. The 

 value of the hog depends upon current prices of the lard. The medium 

 weight hog is selling from seven to seven and a quarter — just the rela- 

 tive position between a lard type hog and the bacon hog, which can be 

 cut up and sold for eighteen to twenty-two cents per pound. Last Sun- 

 day I stayed with A. J. Lovejoy. We had bacon and eggs for breakfast. 

 He paid twenty-five cents a pound for the bacon. What is the use of 

 trying to stem the tide of popular opinion toward desirable ham and 

 bacon when they are commanding such a price? We don't want lard today 

 In the markets. We are getting all kinds of lard. We have all kinds of 

 substitutes. People are being educated away from heavy fat. What is 

 the kind of hog we want in the markets? Taking a fair average of the 

 year right through, it is a trim, tidy, compact animal, not with light 

 bone nor yet with the large heavy bone and the same conformation as 

 you select for the head of your herd. We want the same as the breeder. 

 Those things go together. We want a trim form with compactness and 

 without patches of fat. A hundred and seventy-five pounds is a very 

 desirable weight for the bacon type. Taking the average of the hogs at 

 the Chicago yards last year, it was only 122 pounds; five years ago it was 

 245. That means a substantial reduction in the weight of hogs going to 

 market. The kind of hog which will sell for the most money is a dupli- 

 cate of the kind the packer will buy. 



The invitation extended to the association by Mr. Ferguson to 

 meet at Sioux City was not accepted, as the constitution provides 

 that Des Moines shall be the meeting place. 



