METHODS OF CURING PORK 353 



the bacon-curing trade, that the most economical pig to 

 breed, and consequently the one which ought to be en- 

 couraged in the showyard, should be long in the body, a 

 good medium depth in the ribs, light in the neck and 

 fore quarters, and heavy and deep behind in the hams or 

 gammon ; or, as A. W. Shaw of Limerick has tersely put it : 

 " What is really wanted, is a pig that is neat in the head, 

 light in the neck and shoulders, deep in the heart, thick 

 in the loin, stout in the thighs, and short in the legs," 

 the reason being that changes in the curing trade and pork 

 market have resulted in certain parts of the animal being 

 of greater value per Ib. than other parts, as will be seen 

 from Fig. 20 (page 354), after an original diagram 

 exhibited by A. W. Shaw. The shoulder and neck being 

 of least value, it is shown that it is a waste of food substance 

 to transform it into flesh of inferior quality, if by selecting 

 animals with tendencies to greater development in the more 

 valuable parts a greater amount of material on the higher 

 division of the scale of market values can be produced. 



A great change has within comparatively recent times 

 come over the system of feeding pigs, as well as of curing 

 their carcases. A generation ago it was the custom to 

 kill pigs about two years old, at enormous weights, after 

 the flesh had become coarse. The method of curing left 

 the lean portion gorged with salt, hard, indigestible, and 

 uninviting : then it was an advantage to have a large 

 proportion of fat to lean. Now, however, the system of 

 mild-curing renders the flesh sweet and juicy, and all efforts 

 are directed towards the production of as great a proportion 

 of lean to fat as possible. The large increase of the 

 consumption of fresh pork has also encouraged the demand 

 for young, lean bacon ; and, on the other hand, the 

 change of fashion which has put young and tender pork 

 on the market has helped to increase its consumption. 



The ideal type of animal for these purposes, of whatever 

 breed of pigs, is well described in a recent bulletin of the 

 University of Illinois. 1 It is the one which originated in 



1 Reviewed in the Times of I7th April 1905. A Canadian bulletin, 

 No. 10 of The Department of Agriculture (Branch of the Live Stock 

 Commission), on The Production of Bacon for the British Market (Decem- 

 ber 1905), also deals very fully with the subject. 



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