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land require constant supplies of pork products. Irish packers and English merchants 

 have long since come to regard each as indispensible to the other. The Irish packer 

 has been wise in his day and generation. Not all the pork he ships bears his most 

 cherished brand. Much Irish pork such as that from old breeding stock, over-fat hogs 

 and those that are too thin are sold without identification, but no business man guards 

 with keener jealousy the reputation of his special brands of bacon and hams than the 

 Irish curer. From the great mass of supplies he selects most carefully the pigs that 

 are to be cured for the best trade. The curing is done with equal care and at the end 

 of this stage only the firm sides and lean plump hams receive the first brand. On this 

 kind of combination Irish bacon has established itself in Britain and on a continuation 

 of this the trade won is held. 



3rd. The Irish farmer inclines to follow a leader in whom he has confidence. This 

 characteristic of the people is of great assistance to the Department of Agriculture in 

 its work in aid of swine improvement. Already this has helped the quality of Irish 

 pigs. Co-operation too, finds a receptive soil under such conditions. This is getting 

 a foothold in many parts of Ireland, not so much in bacon curing as yet, but in the 

 buying of supplies needed in the homes and on the farms and the marketing of farm 

 produce. Co-operative curing has commenced and will grow to the undoubted advan- 

 tage of the Irish pig raiser, more especially in the direction of producing ' Wiltshire * 

 sides for the British market. 



