CHAPTER VIII 



ANY one familiar with the pork industry knows that 

 the average hog seldom acquires a weight of 260 

 pounds before it is a year old, and also that it is quite 

 as seldom that any, except brood animals, are allowed 

 to attain that age on the farm. Every brood sow 

 slaughtered during the ninety days following this re- 

 port means a shortage of eight to ten marketable hogs 

 during the next eighteen months. 



In the past, every time the price of 100 pounds of 

 live hogs approximated the value of 13.3 bushels of 

 corn, this condition has been followed by a marked 

 increase in both quantity and quality of hogs mar- 

 keted. And every time it has gone appreciably below 

 that, there has been a corresponding decline in both. 

 During the year 1910, reasonable profits prevailed, 

 the price of 100 pounds of live hogs approximating 

 that of the average price of 13.3 bushels of No. 2 

 corn. The effect of this fair profit was reflected in 

 the increased number of hogs marketed the following 

 year 1911. In five of the leading packing centers, 

 this increase amounted to 4,516,000 head 35 per 

 cent. or approximately a ten million increase for 

 the entire country. During 1911, the price of hogs 

 dropped below the 13.3 ratio, resulting in a reduction 

 of 512,000 in the number of hogs received during 1912 



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