THE BACON CURING INDUSTRY. 255 



These selecdons of quality are : — " sizeable," " stout," " overweights," 

 " heavy overweights," " unfinished," " sixes," and " Berwick." " Sizeable," 

 are those pigs that generally, because of suitability to public requirements,, 

 command the highest price all the year round. Though well-finished, they 

 must not be over fat, and must turn the scale dead weight at about 1 2 stone,, 

 which indicates that they should weight from 15J2 to 16 stone alive. 

 " Stout," (j cwt. 2 qrs. 15 lbs. to i cwt. 3 qrs.) and "overweights " i cwt. 3 qrs. 

 I lb. to I cwt. 3 qrs. 14 lbs), are, as a rule, 2^^. to 3^". under the top price, as^ 

 the bacon manufactured from them is inferior and has to be sold at con- 

 siderably less than best quality in the English markets. " Heavy over- 

 weights " (over I cwt. 3 qrs. 14 lbs) are of little or no value for high-class 

 bacon, and are taken at 4^-. to 6s. per cwt. under the top quotation. " Sixes" 

 (under i cwt. i qr.) sometimes command top price, but in some seasons, 

 notably the Spring, they are quoted 2s. to 5^-. per cwt. less, and, of course, it 

 then pays the farmer to keep them for a few weeks longer even if he has ta 

 purchase food for them. 



These five selections are for the English long-side " singed " trade, while 

 " Berwicks " are for the Irish " middle " and " ham " trade. The " Berwick " 

 are small plump pigs, averaging about i cwt. dead weight, that is to say, 

 ranging between 7 and 8j< stone. As a rule they fetch the same price as 

 ' sizeable " bacon pigs, but occasionally are quoted 2s. per cwt. more or less 

 according to the supply. " Unfinished " pigs are thin, coarse-legged, thick- 

 skinned, pigs of soft fat, that through being badly bred or badly fed, or 

 both, do not " finish " properly. These are almost valueless to the bacon 

 curer. One of the leading bacon curers has described the points of a 

 perfect pig as follows : — Neat in the head, light in the neck and shoulders, 

 deep in the region of the heart and well sprung in the ribs, thick in the 

 loin, stout in the thighs, short in the leg, and long and silky in the hair. 



The method of sending pigs through agents direct to the curer is said to 

 have had a wonderful educational effect on the f aimers of the districts in 

 which it is practised, from a commercial as well as an agricultural point of 

 view, teaching them to be excellent judges of the probable weight of their 

 pigs when killed, and impressing on them the absolute necessity of proper 

 breeding and proper feeding if they wish to have their pigs ready for 

 market in the shortest time and obtain the highest current prices for them 

 when ready. 



In olden times bacon was cured " hard salted," as owing to the slow and 

 uncertain means of transit it was required to keep much longer. The 

 process of curing was very primitive. The pig having been stunned by one 

 or more blows of a mallet, as the case might be, its throat was cut and the 

 blood allowed to flow^ The carcase was then surrounded by a quantity of 

 straw or reed, which was set on fire in order to burn the hair off the skin, 

 which was then scraped after hot water had been thrown upon it and it 

 had been hung up by the hind legs. Having been disembowled and left 

 suspended in the hanging house for twenty-four hours, it was weighed and 

 paid for as dead v/eight. The shoulder blade bones and loin bones were 

 then removed, the sides were laid on a flagged floor in what was practically 

 an open shed, and salt and saltpetre scattered over them. There being no- 

 artificial way of producing cold, the curing could be carried on only for six 

 months of the year. The Berwick pigs were treated in much the same way,, 

 except that instead of the hair being burned off, the slaughtered pig was 

 thrown into a wooden vessel of boiling water and left there until the hair 



