418 EEPOET OF THE BUEEAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTEY. 



weight of those received in December, 1888, was 262 pounds, an un- 

 usually heavy weight, largely consequent on an abundant and rather 

 low-priced crop of Indian corn. 



The hogs exhibited year after year at the fat-stock show at Chicago 

 may be taken as typical specimens of the best fat hogs of the country. 

 While the weights are often great for age, considerable regard is had 

 by most exhibitors to quality of the carcass and symmetry of form. 

 The average weight of the hogs of all breeds and crosses, over one 

 year and under two years, exhibited at this show during eight con- 

 secutive years, was 436 pounds; of those under one year the average 

 weight was 303 pounds. The heaviest hogs over one and under two 

 years at these shows averaged 591 pounds, at an average of four hun- 

 dred and twenty-eight days, or a gain of 1.15 pounds per day from 

 birth. Of those under one year the average was 269 pounds, at two 

 hundred and seven days, or 1.30 pounds gain per day. The percent- 

 age of weight of dressed carcass, including head, to live weight of 

 the hogs slaughtered at this show, during a series of years, was 86. 



Few classes of live-stock breeders in the United States have man- 

 ifested more skill, energy, and perseverance than have the breeders 

 of pure-bred swine. Each breed is represented by national and State 

 associations, and each has one or more public records of pedigrees. 

 Many of the animals that are recorded can be traced back for several 

 generations. Remarkably high prices are often paid for choice ani- 

 mals for breeding purposes. There are some hundreds of intelligent 

 farmers who make the breeding of pure-bred swine the chief or a 

 leading part of their work. From some of these breeding farms 

 there are annually sold from 500 to 1,000 well-bred pigs to be used as 

 sires or dams by other farmers who rear hogs chieny for the general 

 pork markets. These breeders have done much to improve the hogs 

 of the country and to stimulate interest in swine husbandry. On 

 the other hand the large number engaged in such breeding, and their 

 general prosperity, is evidence of the adaptation of the soil, climate, 

 and crops of the country to profitable swine rearing. 



The chief obstacle to the further extension of the industry is the 

 occasionally great loss caused by disease, popularly known as hog 

 cholera. In some years the losses from this cause have been enor- 

 mously great. Fortunately, during the year 1888, there was compara- 

 tively little of disease, and pork-producers have received prices giv- 

 ing a fair profit. The unusually light crop of Indian corn in 1887 

 did much, however, to reduce the number reared in 1888, the total 

 number slaughtered during that year being considerably less than 

 the average for recent years. 



Naturally the center of the pork-producing district is moving 

 westward with the growing population of the great corn-producing 

 States west of the Mississippi Kiver. Taking the chief hog-raising 

 States as a whole, and the average value of Indian corn on the farms 

 where produced is certainly not over one-half cent per pound. Ju- 

 diciously fed to good hogs, from 5 to 6 pounds of corn will produce a 

 pound of jpork; under favorable conditions 4 pounds will cause a 

 pound of increase. A good part of the weight of the fattened hog 

 has been made at even less cost, from grass and clover, or from food 

 that would otherwise have been wasted. One year with another 

 the producer has been able to get at least 4 cents per pound for his 

 live nog. It is evident that, if there were no losses from disease or 

 other unfavorable circumstances, the business would give a good 

 profit, with a probability that the numbers reared would soon be so 



