THIRD ANNUAL TEAR BOOK — PART VII. 457 



in domestic animals, by Low, in 1842. The Siamese was the opposite of 

 the prevailing type of hog of that day. He was described and illustrated 

 as a small, short-legged, compact, round-bellied, erect-eared pig, weighing 

 at "about one year not quite sixty pounds, most perfect in form, with 

 soft black hair, sometimes presenting a coppery tinge, all feet white 

 and a blaze on his face." In this connection it is interesting to note 

 that two Berkshire pigs farrowed on the college farm in separate litters, 

 but from the same sire this season, exhibit a decided tendency toward 

 the cooper tinge color. 



MOST PROFITABLE ANIMAL. 



The hog's superior caoabilities of converting farm feeds into meat 

 products renders it the most profitable animal domesticated on our 

 farms and pork production the most profitable industry of American 

 agriculture in spite of the ravages of hog cholera. This dreaded scourge 

 gives no evidence of yielding to any of the loudly proclaimed methods of 

 treatment or inoculation, but to the man who gives his hogs the range 

 of an or the greater part of a fair-sized farm and who applies vigorous 

 measures of isolation, disinfection and eradication, the disease is largely 

 robbed of its terrors. It is generally conceded that there is no certain 

 specific against hog cholera, .but the free and extensive use of good 

 grass, roots and succulent feeds will do much to maintain a healthful 

 condition that will afford a reasonable safeguard against many forms of 

 disease. The hog in tne wild state is naturally an herbivorous animal and 

 under domestication it would be much more herbivorous in its appetite 

 if it had a chance. The grazing characteristics of swine should by 

 no means be allowed to become extinct, but cultivated and perpetuated 

 ae a most useful quality. It will be conducive to hardier hogs, cheaper 

 production and better pork products. 



The American people are particularly fond of pork as an article 

 of diet and the American farmer is eminently successful as a pork producer. 

 The two conspicuous and most successful features of American agri- 

 culture are corn and pork production. Our resources in this field, how- 

 eyer. have scarcely begun to develop and the quality of our products 

 has not yet approached the standard of perfection. One has but to sit 

 at an English breakfast table and partake of the celebrated Westphalia 

 ham or delicious Wiltshire bacon to realize that our American pork 

 products have not yet reached the standard of excellence demanded Dy 

 the most exacting foreign markets. We produce a larger supply 

 of pork products than any other country, but it must be 

 admitted that American pork is the cheapest product in the 

 leading markets of the world. There is no good reason 

 for this, even though the American farms are capable of producing pork 

 more economically. Corn is primarily the hog feed of the greatest hog 

 producing states and no other feed will displace it as an economical 

 and practical ration for pork production. The inferior quality of 

 American pork cannot be properly attributed to the corn ration, as is 

 frequently claimed. Recent investigations by the government experiment 

 stations and by practical feeders in the United States, Canada, Great 

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