MISCELLANEOUS INVESTIGATIONS 133 
that lean meat or fat can be developed to any extent which 
the feeder may desire. Nature has set a limit in this con- 
nection, and what may be accomplished by the feeder in the 
way of developing lean meat cannot go beyond a certain point. 
The theory that any breed of hogs can be fed in such a way 
as to produce choice bacon for the English market is not borne 
out by these or any other experiments, nor by the experience 
of practical breeders who really understand the demands of 
the market. 
lL peculiar feature of swine is their tendency to develop 
fat. If the very best specimens of the bacon type are fed 
largely upon corn, they quickly assume the fat or lard type, 
and in one or two generations of such treatment the tendency 
to become shorter in side and thicker in body becomes so 
firmly fixed that it is very difficult to change them back to the 
bacon type again under any system of breeding and feeding. 
On the other hand, breeders of bacon hogs know that it re- 
quires careful selection and feeding to maintain the type. 
Even under the most favorable conditions there is a tendency 
for the bacon type to change gradually in the direction of the 
fat type, unless care is exercised in selection. It is safe to say, 
therefore, that it is easier to increase the proportion of fat 
in a hog’s careass than it is to increase the proportion of lean, 
and that the extent to which the lean may be increased by 
the character of the feed is very limited and is fixed by the 
individuality of the animal. Further, any attempt to increase 
the amount of lean through feeding must be started when the 
pig is very young in order to be successful. 
Causes of Soft Bacon.—In the manufacture of “ Wiltshire 
sides” Canadian packers have experienced a great deal of 
difficulty with ‘sides turning soft in the process of curing. In 
a soft side the fat is soft and spongy, and sometimes the lean 
