MARKETING 213 



breeds will make good bacon, owing to individual pe- 

 culiarities, or to the influence of feeding, or both. But 

 by raising the bacon type of hog and feeding properly, 

 nearly every animal will make good bacon, and if there 

 is a proper market accessible, or if the bacon is intended 

 for family use, the raising of such hogs may become de- 

 sirable and profitable. It is only in a very rare instance 

 that the use of a strictly bacon breed of swine is to be 

 recommended under southern conditions, for, as has been 

 pointed out before, the ideal southern type will more 

 nearly resemble the lard type rather than the bacon type. 



Marketing finished pork. — The establishment of pork- 

 packing plants in many towns and cities in the South 

 is one of the most striking developments at present along 

 the line of marketing swine products. Steady and con- 

 stant markets will result as a natural sequence, and the 

 marketing end of the swine business will not be so diffi- 

 cult in the future as in the past. It is the plan of these 

 packing plants to take care of any excess production over 

 immediate demands of the local butchers. A great many 

 farmers do not raise enough pork for their own use, or 

 else they raise it but sell it and buy fresh and cured pork 

 for several times what they sell their own for. This 

 failure to produce a supply of pork for home consump- 

 tion is a loss to be regretted. We should first produce 

 enough pork for home consumption and then have some 

 to market, according to the emphasis we place on pork 

 as a source of income. 



Seasonal demands of the market. — One factor which 

 the producer of pork must take into consideration, es- 

 pecially if he is supplying the demands of the local mar- 



