724 



Pigs for Bacon. 



[Nov., 



apt to have a fishy flavour when cooked. So far as has been 

 ascertained this unpleasant flavour is the result either of using 

 an excessive quantity of fish meal or meal of an inferior quality, 

 i.e., meal made from other than white fish and containing too 

 large a proportion of oil. In recent years the various tinds 

 of food suitable for pigs have increased so greatly in number 

 that there can be no excuse for neglect in using the few 

 foods which are less suitable for the production of pork of fine 

 flavour and quality. 



Breeds. — The choice of pigs of different breeds which are 

 said to be suitable for the production of bacon has enormously 

 increased of late years. Breeders of Large Whites, Large 

 Blacks, Essex and Wessex Saddlebacks, G-loucester Old Spots, 

 Tam worths, Cumberlands, Ulster Whites, Lincolnshire Curly 

 Coated, &c., all declare their belief in the exceptional suita- 

 bility of their favourite pigs for the manufacture of the finest 

 qualities of bacon. These beliefs may have the best possible 

 foundation, but some of the breeds may not have been in 

 existence for a period long enough to have afforded quite so 

 great a proof of their suitabilit}^ as might be desired. At the 

 present time many thousands of pigs, which are crosses from 

 the Large White Boar and the Large Black Sow, are 

 slaughtered weekly by the bacon curers. This combination 

 appears to give general satisfaction to the bacon curers and to pig 

 breeders and feeders. The Cumberland pig has long been 

 noted for its fine hams, whilst the good proportion of lean 

 to fat meat furnished by the Berkshire and the Tamworth 

 is well known, all these breeds having been before the public 

 for many years. Pigs of the other breeds named may in due 

 course prove their suitability for the production of bacon. 



