238 KEPOET OF THE COMMISSIONER OP AGRICULTURE. 



is estimated at 230,000 in 1876, against 170,000 ia 1875, and 390,000 iu 

 1874. California bogs are liglit, compared with those raised upon the 

 Athmtic slope or in the Mississippi Valley. Those packed at Sau Fran- 

 cisco iu 1870 averaged but 185 pounds gross weight per head and but 

 15 J pounds per head of lard. The average cost was $0.37^ per cental, 

 gross, in coin. The introduction of the Berkshire breed of hogs is said 

 to have already enlarged the size of market animals, and other improve- 

 ments in the character of the stock are noted. The average net weight 

 per head iu 1875 was 121 pounds, and iu 1874 115 pounds. The best 

 hogs came from the corn-raising counties of Los Angeles and Venturij„ 

 though some excellent wheat-fed animals were brought from the Sacra- 

 mento Valley, and some good acorn-fatted hogs from the Sau Joaquiu 

 Valley. The rise iu the price of grain seems to indicate a reduced hog- 

 crop for 1877, The amount of barreled pork of all kinds made at Sau 

 Francisco in 1876 was 5,230 barrels. In Oregon, the packing is mostly 

 done at Portland ; estimates of the number packed ia 1870 range from 

 60,000 to 80,000 head. Oregon raises heavier hogs than those indicated 

 by the San Francisco average. 



CANADA. 



Canadian pork-packing for market is mostly confined to the province 

 of Ontario. The business has been somewhat variable iu its extent, 

 but it seems to be growing, though several of the prominent packers of 

 this region have found it profitable to transfer their operations to Chi- 

 cago. During the last eighteen months the pork-packing facilities of 

 Ontario have been enlarged by the erection of nev; packing-houses and 

 by the extension of market arrangements generally. As the corn area 

 of Canada is limited and not very productive, and as other kinds of 

 grain bear good prices, Canada farmers cannot be depended upon for a 

 large supply of hogs. Hence the Canadian packers look to the United 

 States for the bulk of their material, especially from Michigan and 

 Illinois ; Chicago furnishes a very large pro])ortion of the animals 

 slaughtered. The home demand for bacon and hams is mostly supplied 

 by Canadian farmers, but the production of barreled pork in the Do- 

 minion is not adequate to the demand, nor is it of a very high character. 

 Canadian jwrk is lighter than in the United States, and put up iu poorer 

 barrels; hence it is less in favor with lumbermen and other large con- 

 suming classes, whose wants are supplied mostly from the Chicago and 

 Cincinnati markets. Canadian packers, however, are improving in their 

 methods and turning out a much better product than formerly. Some 

 of them hud greater profit in exporting fresh meat to Europe, and are con- 

 templating a transfer of their cai)ital and enterprise to that trade, but 

 others regard this as a very doubtful policy. During the winter season 

 of 1870-'77 there were packed at 36 diiierent points in Canada 186,198 

 hogs, an increase of 66,200 head over the previous season. The average 

 net weight of tlie hogs packed was 203.77 pounds per head. About 

 30,000 barrels of pork of all kinds were among the results of the season's 

 operations. The number packed during the summer season of 1876 was 

 54,544, nearly all being at Toronto and Hamilton. The aggregate num- 

 ber packed in Canada during the twelve months ending March 1, 1877, 

 was 244,742. 



