MARKETS AND SWINE PRODUCTS 279 



may be said that the tendency of the American market during 

 the past ten years has been towards a lighter and leaner hog. 

 The most desirable weight for butcher and packing hogs is 250 

 pounds, though, as previously stated, there are times when heavy 

 hogs command a premium. It is also worthy of note that 

 " butcher " hogs represent the best market hogs of the fat or 

 lard type. 



Hog Products. The market for live hogs is somewhat com- 

 plicated, but the market for hog products is very much more 

 complicated than the former. The speculative provision market 

 quotes only " pork/' " ribs," and " lard." These are the only 

 pork products traded in on the Board of Trade in the way of 

 options. To a certain extent they govern the prices of other 

 pork products. 



" Pork " refers to standard mess pork, which is made from 

 the sides of well-fattened hogs. The hams and shoulders are 

 removed, and the sides cut into strips about six inches wide. 

 These pieces are packed in barrels with salt and brine, the 

 number of pieces to a barrel varying from seven to sixteen. 

 Barrel pork is quoted on the market on the basis of 200 pounds 

 net to the barrel. 



There are other classes of barrel pork, such as prime mess 

 pork, in which the shoulder is included with the side, extra 

 prime pork, and extra shoulder pork, taken from the shoulders 

 alone, and numerous other kinds which it would be scarcely 

 profitable to describe, because each packer has his own methods 

 of cutting pork, outside of certain standard products. 



"" Ribs/' or short rib sides, are cut from the sides, leaving 

 out hams and shoulders, in the same way as standard mess 

 pork. These are dry salted and packed in boxes containing 

 500 to 525 pounds net, or shipped loose in the car, salted. 



Lard is usually divided into two grades, namely, " choice 



