TYPES AND MARKET CLASSES OF LIVE STOCK 333 



at prices ranging from seventy-five cents to one dollar per cwt. 

 and were considered sufficiently remunerative at these figures. 



As greater areas came under cultivation and the natural 

 forests became more restricted, it was found more profitable 

 and convenient to feed hogs on corn than to turn them out 

 into the woods, as they grew faster and took on more fat. It 

 was at this stage in the development of the American swine 

 industry that pork packing was commenced, and this gave a 

 pronounced impetus to hog production. This was before the 

 days of railroads, and hogs were taken overland in droves to 

 the nearest packing point. Later, when the railroads came, 

 a great saving was effected by eliminating losses due to the 

 giving out of hogs on the route, and pork packing and hog rais- 

 ing received an impulse that has greatly helped to make pork 

 one of the most important staples of the country. 



The census found 26,000,000 hogs in the United States in 

 1840, 33,500,000 in 1860, 47,700,000 in 1880, 57,400,000 in 1890, 

 and 62,900,000 in 1900. In 1910 the census changed from June 

 1 to April 15, and the swine enumerators found only 58,200,000. 

 If, however, the number of hogs found on that date increased 

 to the number estimated to exist on the following 1st of 

 June, the swine on farms in 1910, June 1, probably numbered 

 69,200,000. The 58,200,000 swine found by enumerators April 15, 

 1910, had increased, according to estimates of the U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, to 65,400,000 in 1912, but the unusual prev- 

 alence of hog cholera in 1913 reduced the number to 58,900,000 

 in 1914. In 1915, the estimated number was 64,600,000; in 

 1916, 68,000,000; in 1917, 67,500,000; in 1918, 71,000,000; and 

 in 1919, 75,600,000. From the earliest record there has been a 

 persistent course of increase of swine in the United States. 



The United States is the outstanding country of the world 

 in pork production. The leading countries in numbers of hogs, 

 according to the latest available figures, are as follows: 



United States, 1919 75,587,000 Spain, 1916 2,814,000 



Brazil, 1916 17,329,000 United Kingdom, 1918 2,809,000 



Germany, 1915 17,287,000 Philippines, 1915 2,521,000 



Russia and Poland, 1914. . .12,033,000 Venezuela, 1912 1,618,000 



Hungary, 1913 6,825,000 Belgium, 1913 1,412,000 



Italy, 1914 6,646,000 Roumania, 1916 1,382,000 



Austria, 1910 6,432,000 Portugal, 1908 1,300,000 



Canada, 1918 4,290,000 Netherlands, 1917 1,185,000 



France, 1917 4,200,000 British South Africa, 1911 . . 1,111,000 



Asiatic Russia, 1914 2,962,000 Sweden, 1917 1,030,000 



Argentina, 1918 2,901,000 Australia, 1916 1,007,000 



