336 TYPES AND MARKET CLASSES OF LIVE STOCK 



When the United States was settled, swine were brought 

 over from Europe, but conditions here, and especially in the 

 cornbelt, were very different, and the character of the hog was 

 changed to meet the demand as it developed under the different 

 conditions. The new type of hog which was then originated 

 was what is called the fat or lard hog. There were three prin- 

 cipal reasons for its development. These were (1) the abun- 

 dance and good fattening qualities of corn, (2) the home de- 

 mand for cured meats, and (3) the foreign demand for cheap 

 meats. 



1. Corn is a plant native to America, and in the corn- 

 belt can be produced with much less cost than can any of the 

 other grains. The United States produces three-fourths of the 

 world's corn crop. It is a feed comparatively rich in carbo- 

 hydrates and much lacking in protein. Carbohydrates are 

 used in the animal body for building up fat and to furnish the 

 fuel that is used in the production of physical energy. Protein 

 is that part of a food material that is rich in nitrogen and is used 

 principally to build up muscle or lean meat. Since corn is the 

 principal feed for swine in the United States, it is only the nat- 

 ural consequence that our hogs are of the fat or lard type. 



2. In the earlier history of the United States, very few, 

 if any, of the frontier sections had railroad facilities, so could 

 not import fresh meats; neither had they facilities for local 

 production of meats. Then again, these places, and especially 

 the lumber camps, used a great deal of meat, and it had to be 

 of such a nature that it could be hauled long distances on wagons 

 and be capable of long storage after reaching its destination. 

 The most satisfactory meat for this purpose was mess pork. 

 There are two reasons why fat salt pork was better than lean 

 salt pork, (a) Fat pork does not become so salty on being 

 pickled as does lean pork. It is not so thoroughly penetrated 

 by the salt, therefore it is more palatable after long storage 

 than is lean pork, which also requires a larger quantity of salt, 

 and is not so well preserved as is the fat pork, (b) Fat pork 

 was better both from the employer's and the consumer's point 

 of view, because on account of its fatty nature, it contains two 

 and one-fourth times as much energy per unit of weight as does 

 lean pork, therefore making a cheaper article on the bill of fare, 

 also furnishing sufficient energy to the laborer who was toiling 

 hard in cold winter weather. The following table giving analyses 

 and fuel values of a number of common foods shows the high 



