ANIMAL INDUSTRIES 261 



to lack of adaptation of local conditions for hog- 

 growing but to two other facts, in the main, viz. : 

 first, pork, until recently, was not undertaken as a 

 primary product but as a by-product of dairying and, 

 in a less degree, of fruit-growing and preservation; 

 second, owing to the lack of up-to-date packing estab- 

 lishments, the demand for hogs for several decades 

 was restricted to the supply of local butchers who 

 made pork products only of the over-flow from their 

 cutting-blocks, and gave it neither the quality nor 

 style which characterized the "eastern" provisions 

 from the Middle West. Until the operations of prop- 

 erly equipped packing-houses began about two decades 

 ago, California hams and bacon could not compete 

 with the imported articles. Both California pork 

 and its products were inferior and the output, even 

 as by-products, was of uncertain profitability. During 

 the last decade there has been marked improvement 

 in all these lines. Breeding, feeding and care of 

 hogs has advanced rapidly toward the best standards. 

 Better pork has been provided with better handling: 

 local pork products are displacing introductions; 

 they are entering inter-state and export trade, and 

 will henceforward carry the highest American 

 standards. 



Swine were brought to California by the padres 

 or by the soldiers who accompanied them, more likely 

 by the latter. Probably they did not come with the 

 initial expedition of 1769. At that time 229 animals 

 are credited with arriving, but the kinds are not 

 stated in such records as now appear. It is reason- 



