318 TYPES AND MARKET CLASSES OF LIVE STOCK 



In 1863, hog-packing products consisted of bristles, lard, 

 mess pork, hams, shoulders, bacon, and lard oil used for mak- 

 ing candles. The beginning of the immense packing-house 

 by-products industry of modern times was described by an 

 early writer as follows: "Since the Chicago river has ceased 

 to be the sewer for all the offal from the slaughter and pack- 

 ing houses, the owners have been obliged to cart it off to the 

 commons and open fields beyond the city limits at a very heavy 

 expense to them. An enterprising firm has, however, con- 

 tracted with all the principal firms the present season to carry 

 it all away by the owners paying half the expenses. Instead, 

 however, of carrying it off and throwing it away, they have com- 

 menced preparing it for fertilizers. They have provided centri- 

 fugal machines, into which they place the refuse from the lard 

 and grease tanks, and throw out all the water, leaving only the 

 solid parts, and that in a pulpy or pulverized condition. In 

 this way they will prepare about three thousand tons the present 

 season, all of which will be shipped east for the manufacture of 

 commercial manures. Another concern is gathering all the 

 bones it can pick up, from which are manufactured large quan- 

 tities of animal charcoal, and such as are not suitable for that 

 purpose are ground up and sent east, they having shipped the 

 past season over three hundred tons of ground bones alone." 



Exports of pork products. A good idea of the importance 

 of American hog packing to European nations under normal 

 conditions may be obtained from the following table, giving 

 exports of pork products for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1913: 

 Pork products Pounds Value 



Bacon . . . . 156,675,310 $21,211,605 



Hams and shoulders 157,709,316 20,708,882 



Pork, canned 4,010,862 483,959 



Pork, fresh 1,355,378 159,654 



Pork, pickled 45,729,471 4,944,448 



Lard 476,107,857 52,509,217 



Lard compounds 73,754,400 7,070,967 



Sausage 4,716,610 601,596 



Sausage casings 40,013,760 5,466,661 



Totals 960,072,964 $113,156,989 



The only countries exporting hog products to any great 

 extent besides America at the present time are Denmark and 

 China. The United Kingdom is our largest customer, and 

 Germany ranks second. Germany's purchases, however, con- 

 sist almost exclusively of lard. Trade in meats with Germany 

 is not possible to any large extent, owing to he high duty im- 



