356 PIGS 



millions; Germany, 17 millions; Russia, 11 millions; 

 Hungary, 7 millions ; Great Britain, 4 millions ; Canada, 

 3 millions ; and Spain and Roumania, 2 millions each. In 

 the Western States of America, including Ohio and Kentucky, 

 which constitute the great maize-growing region (the centre of 

 the densest hog population in the world), the numbers of hogs 

 "packed" in one year exceeds 25 millions; to this, some 

 3 millions packed in the Eastern States fall to be added. 

 But the total killed per annum for all purposes is more than 

 double these numbers combined, as it is estimated that 

 " 16 per cent, more pigs are killed in a year than are 

 enumerated at a particular date in the year, the average 

 duration of a pig's life being less than twelve months." 

 Butchers' hogs form an important item. They are chiefly 

 " barrows " in greater request at higher prices than sows, the 

 best of which are kept for breeding. The fresh-meat trade 

 absorbs most of the butchers' hogs about one-fourth of the 

 hogs sold in the stockyards of Chicago (the largest daily hog 

 market in the world) belong to this class, and the best-fed 

 variety ranges in age from six months for light to twelve 

 months for heavy weights. The majority of American pigs, 

 which are fed almost exclusively on maize, belong to the 

 excessively lardy or all-fat kind, which the packing trade has 

 developed, but which will in future have to share public 

 favour more equally with the lean-meat varieties. 



" The type of hog reared in the United States is unlike the 

 bacon hog of England, Denmark, and Canada, in that the 

 most valuable parts of the American hog are the hams, back" 

 and shoulders. It consequently happens that these parts are 

 developed at the expense of the sides, the result being an 

 animal differing in essential details from our own bacon pig 

 for the former has a broad back, wide and full hams and 

 shoulders, with heavy neck and jowls, and a large proportion 

 of external as well as internal fat. Most of the swine of the 

 United States are reared in the ' corn belt ' that is, the zone 

 in which the cultivation of maize is chiefly pursued. This 

 section of the country has consequently taken the lead in the 

 development of swine of the fat or lard hog type, and has 

 determined their characteristics. When the United States 

 was settled, swine were, of course, taken over from Europe, 

 and they have undergone gradual modification to suit the 



