BREEDS OF SWINE 515 



form of fresh cuts, such as bellies, hams, picnics, leaf and back fat, 

 and convert the minto smoked meats, lard and other products bear- 

 ing the trade-mark of the packer. 



Dry-salt meats are domestic cuts made from heavy fat pack- 

 ing and loin hogs, cured and shipped in coarse salt, and with a few 

 exceptions, pumped before salting. These are distinct from English 

 meats both as to selection and packing. The cuts that are sold in 

 this form are heavy sides, bellies, shoulders, fat backs, plates and 

 jowls. The same cuts, and particularly bellies and short clear sides, 

 are also quoted as bacon meats, which, after being cured in dry salt 

 are smoked before shipping. The term bacon, when used as a pre- 

 fix, refers to dry-salt meats, while smoked meats, as described below 

 are cured in sweet pickle. Dry-salt and bacon meats are generally 

 shipped loose, but are sometimes put up in boxes containing 25 to 

 500 pounds. 



Barreled or plain-pickled pork is packed in plain salt brine in 

 tight barrels (18x29 inches) at 200 pounds net weight of cured pork 

 per barrel (355 pounds gross) . The strength of brine is varied some- 

 what according to the cuts of pork and their destination. Barreled 

 pork is made largely from sides of packing and heavy loin hogs, and 

 consists principally of mess, fat back and belly pork of various 

 grades. A much smaller proportion of the pork supply is barreled 

 than formerly. Sweet-pickled (S. P.) meats are cured in sweet 

 brine. Standard cuts of this class are packed as follows for delivery 

 on the Chicago Board of Trade: 300 Ibs. block weight shall be 

 packed in each tierce with either 22 Ibs. of salt, 3 quarts of good 

 syrup, 12 ounces of saltpetre and tierce filled with water, or tierce 

 filled with sweet pickle according to above standard. After curing, 

 sweet-pickled meats are commonly packed in slack barrels or boxes, 

 or sold loose, but are also sold in tierces (21x32 inches), either pickle 

 on or drained. The bulk of sweet-pickled and other sugar-cured 

 meats are smoked before they reach the consumer, as explained in 

 the following paragraph. A percentage of heavy sweet-pickled hams, 

 picnics and loins are also boned out and sold as boiled meats which 

 are described below. The cuts that are quoted as sweet-pickled meats 

 are hams, picnics, New York cut and skinned shoulders, boneless 

 butts, light bellies, and spareribs. This class of meats is cut princi- 

 pally from butcher hogs and from medium and light packing hogs; 

 hams and picnics from all classes of hogs are generally sweet-pickled. 



Smoked meats are sweet-pickled as described above and smoked 

 after curing. They also include light breakfast-bacon bellies that have 

 been dry-cured in salt and sugar. In packing smoked meats, fancy 

 hams and breakfast-bacon bellies are wrapped in parchment paper 

 or canvas and packed in 50 and 100 pound boxes and crates. Other 

 grades are sold either unwrapped, canvassed, or wrapped in burlap, 

 and either loose, boxed or crated (100 to 500-pound packages) or 

 packed in slack barrels or burlap sacks. 



English meats is a term applied to certain cuts that are dry- 

 cured in English salt and saltpetre and primarily adapted to English 

 trade, being given a milder cure than domestic meats. They are 



