720 



the one or two hot dinners \Yeekly givmg place to more frequent 

 and much smaller daily hot joints, whilst the lump of very fat 

 bacon was giving way to the fried rasher for breakfast in the 

 large majority of cottages and even in those mills where the 

 employees were allowed to cook their breakfasts. This enor- 

 mous increase in the demand for the middle, the hams and the 

 better portions of the sides of bacon, placed the curers in a diffi- 

 •cult position when the large proportion of fat pigs sent to the 

 factories consisted of heavy-shouldered and short-sided pigs, 

 carrying an excess of fat, such as were general in the seventh 

 decade of last century. The heavy and coarse shoulders rnd 

 the large and fat jowls, formed so large a proportion of the side 

 of bacon, and the demand for them was proportionately so slight, 

 that the curers were forced to start a campaign against the 

 •chubby short-sided and over-fat pigs which were so fashionable 

 at that period, largely as a result of the demand from the United 

 States for a pig of that character. This demand must have arisen 

 from a desire for a pio:, the complete opposite in form and charac- 

 ter of the so-called " rail splitter," then so common on the 

 American Continent, rather than because of the utilitarian 

 properties of the then fashionable pig. 



A vigorous campaign w^as commenced in the agi'icultural press 

 against the thick pig with heavy head and shoulders and short 

 back. Diagrams of the flesh of the fancy and of the bacon curers' 

 types of pig were published showing the varying proportions 

 of the lean meat and fat meat in their carcasses. \ot content 

 with this, one of our largest and best Imown firms of curers 

 purchased pedigree boars and distributed them amongst the 

 farmers and pig breeders who sent their bacon pigs to the fac- 

 tory. In deciding on the breed of boar for distribution the firm 

 was influenced somewhat by the desire of the producers to breed 

 only pigs dark in colour. The attempt was not an entire success, 

 since the produce of these boars from the local sows proved to be 

 rather heavy in the forequarters and too short-sided. 



Danish and Canadian Action. — Meanwhile, the Danish Gov- 

 ernment had sent to this country one of their officials who was 

 an exceedingly good judge of stock for the purpose of inspecting 

 as many as possible of the English, Irish and Scotch bacon fac- 

 tories, the type of the pigs slaughtered therein, and the herds 

 of most of the successful breeders. After a stay of some months 

 this official reported to his department in Denmark in favour of 

 a certain t}^e of large white pig. Purchases were subsequently 

 ^nade from one large herd, and the pigs were distributed amongst 



