CHAPTER XXVII 

 BREEDING FOR THE MARKET 



Hog raising has always been a profitable and favorite department 

 of farming in the United States, In Colonial times pork production 

 was a very simple matter. Hogs were allowed to run wild in the woods 

 where they fed upon roots and natural grasses and fattened upon 

 acorns and beech and hickory nuts, called "mast." The only expense 

 to the farmer was the winter feeding of those too young for market 

 and of those reserved for breeding purposes. Inasmuch as Indian corn 

 was the feed used and as this cereal would not repay the expense of 

 transportation to market until the introduction of railways, it cost 

 very little to produce pork. Even after the organization of the national 

 government and the settling of the Middle West it was the general 

 impression among farmers that it cost nothing for a man to make his 

 own pork, and for a long time large numbers of dressed hogs were sold 

 in that section of the country at prices ranging from 75 cents to $1 per 

 cwt. and were considered sufficiently remunerative at these figures. ^ 



As greater areas came under cultivation and the natural forests 

 became more restricted, it was found more profitable and convenient 

 to feed hogs on corn than to turn them out into the woods, as they 

 grew faster and took on more fat. It was at this stage in the develop- 

 ment of the American swine industry that pork packing was com- 

 menced, and this gave a pronounced impetus to hog production. 

 This was before the days of railroads, and hogs were taken overland in 

 droves to the nearest packing point. Later, when the railroads came, 

 a great saving was effected by eliminating losses due to the giving out 

 of hogs on the route, and pork packing and hog raising received an 

 impulse that has greatly helped to make pork one of the most impor- 

 tant staples of the country. 



Development of lard-type hogs. — The early settlers of the United 

 States brought hogs with them from Europe, and importations of many 

 varieties and breeds of hogs occurred later. Various crosses of these 

 early stocks were made, and from various combinations of bloodlines 

 various American breeds of hogs originated and were later improved 

 by selection. Conditions in this country demand a type of swine that 

 fattens readily and can utilize a large share of the corn crop in the pro- 

 duction of pork and lard, and all of the breeds of hogs developed in the 



1 Charles Cist: The Hog and Its Products, U. S. Dept. Agr. An. Rpt., 1866, 

 p. 382. 



381 



