THE ^ NEW PIG 23 



second or third place in the scale of the workman's 

 diet ? * Salt pork,' which was for centuries the staple 

 food of the mariners of England, is almost erased from 

 the bill of fare on passenger ships, and is only served 

 twice a week to the bluejackets in the navy. Before 

 long mere salted pig will be as antiquated as stock fish 

 or < poor John.' It only holds its place as a humble 

 necessary of life among American backwoodsmen. 

 Even they have recently ' struck' against the quality 

 of that supplied from Chicago, and demanded a more 

 1 matured ' article for winter diet. 



But the English-reared pig is no longer the poor 

 man's food-animal. On the contrary, it is a luxury. 

 New Zealand mutton, La Plata beef, Columbian 

 salmon, and Australian rabbits, are the cheap form 

 of fresh meat, and by many classes, notably respectable 

 domestic servants, home-grown pork is preferred to any 

 of these. It is dearer actually and relatively, for more 

 is eaten at a meal. Nearly all the fresh pig sold in this 

 country may be considered to be the flesh of highly- 

 bred and highly-fed animals. But the English bacon 

 and English hams are the product of highly-skilled 

 manufacture. It is not long since bacon was con- 

 sidered only fit for ploughmen ; it never appeared 

 at a gentleman's breakfast-table ; even in farmhouses 

 it was only eaten as a domestic duty. This was no 

 prejudice ; the pigs were bad, and the bacon worse : 



