19 



IRELAND. 



Next to Danish, Irish is the strongest competitor of Canadian bacon in the British 

 market. It is many years since Irish bacon gained a foothold as a standard breakfast meat 

 and since the Irish farmers have continued a fairly regular supply of pigs while the curers 

 have kept up the quality of the meat, customers long since acquired continue to ask for and 

 use Irish bacon. It is not therefore owing so much to superior quality as to uniformly good 

 quality and regular supply that Irish bacon commands a higher price than Canadian. During 

 the past summer when Canadian bacon was selling at 73 to 76 shillings per cwt., Irish was 

 bringing 74 to 77 and Danish 76 to 79. The greater popularity of the Danish is due to 

 milder cure which the Irish curer does not see fit to risk especially during warm weather. 

 Canadian is even more salt than Irish. It has to be made so in order to withstand the longer 

 haul and delay between factory and market. 



The production of pigs in Ireland for many years has been fairly constant. The figures 

 for 1899 and 1907 are practically the same being a little over 1,300,000 while during this 

 period and including 1908 the number has never fallen below 1,200,000. These figures 

 represent the number of living pigs at the time of the annual enumeration the first week in 

 June. 



Pigs are exported from Ireland both alive and dressed, the quantity of the latter gradu- 

 ally increasing. In 1904 half a million live pigs were exported about 26,000 of these being 

 store pigs, the remainder fat. In 1908 the number was 387,476, only about 16,000 of which 

 were stores. During the same years the exports of bacon were 87,405,360 Ibs. in 1904 and 

 104,593,184 Ibs. in 1908. The exports of pork and hams show less variation which indicates 

 that the pigs of Ireland are being more and more turned into bacon. There are about 35 

 bacon factories operated on a commercial scale in Ireland and they handle about one million 

 pigs per year. The co-operative movement has set in. One well equipped co-operative 

 factory is in operation in the centre of the country and another is likely to be opened in 

 the southeast at an early date. 



The Pigs. 



During recent years the Irish farmer, like the Canadian and Danish pig raiser, has 

 been working towards the bacon type of pig. There are three recognized breeds in the 

 country the native Ulster, the Yorkshire and the Large Black. As boars the Yorkshires 

 are much in favour, while as mothers the other sorts are very popular. In form and aptitude 

 the Ulster and Large Black are much alike. They are both lengthy and deep of body, 

 have large drooping ears and are hardy feeders, rapid fatteners and the sows make excellent 

 mothers. In order to preserve the Ulster breed in its pure state the Royal Ulster Agricul- 

 tural Society recently established a Herd Book. Foundation stock was accepted on careful 

 inspection as to breed type and vigour. Already one volume has been issued containing 

 the pedigrees of 54 boars and 166 sows. The Yorkshire has been a favourite in Ireland 

 for many years. In Ireland, as in England, bacon curers have distributed among the farmers 

 a large number of boars of this breed. Before the Department of Agriculture and Techni- 

 cal Instruction was organized, the South of Ireland Bacon Curers' Pig-improvement Asso- 

 ciation distributed more than 2,000 boars of the Yorkshire breed at a cost of some $65,000. 

 The result of this distribution was very marked on the type and colour of pigs produced. 

 Heretofore black and spotted pigs were quite general, but the Yorkshire cross has done 

 away with much of this. Now the dark colour is again coming in to the chagrin of some 



