Experiments with Savine in Ontarto. 



55 



Experiments with Swine in Ontario* 



Experiments have been conducted during the past live 

 years at the Ontario Agricultural College with the object of 

 comparing various breeds of pigs with respect to their 

 suitability for the bacon trade. The breeds chosen were 

 Yorkshire, Tamworth. Berkshire, Chester White, Poland 

 China, and Duroc Jersey. Three hogs of each breed were 

 fed with maize and wheat middlings, and three with barley 

 and wheat middlings. As regards economy of production, 

 the Berkshires and Tamworths gave the most favourable 

 results, but in point of suitability for bacon the Yorkshires 

 showed a decided advantage in quality over the other breeds 

 on the average of the five years' experiments. Tamworths 

 ranked second, and Berkshires a good third ; the three 

 remaining breeds have proved decidedly unsuitable for the 

 export trade in bacon. 



With regard to the relative merits as feeding materials of 

 maize and middlings as compared with barley and middlings, 

 the results of the experiments showed that the two rations 

 might almost be considered equal in this respect. 



Experiments have also been conducted at the Ontario 

 College to determine the influence of food on the firmness of 

 bacon. The results obtained point to the fact that hogs 

 which have plenty of exercise and a mixed diet, or which 

 receive a reasonable allowance of dairy by-products and a 

 mixed grain ration, until they are over ioolbs. live weight, 

 can be finished off on maize without injury to the quality of the 

 bacon. An exclusive maize diet during a somewhat extended 

 period yielded, however, unsatisfactory results, and produced 

 bacon of a soft, undesirable type. 



The mixing of middlings with maize, to the extent of two- 

 thirds at the commencement and one-third at the close of the 

 feeding period, was not successful in counteracting the bad 

 effects of the maize, the bacon thus produced being soft and 

 generally undesirable, but a mixture of one-half barley seems 

 to have had some influence. Barley, either alone or in con- 



\_Joumal of the Board of Agriculture. * See Vol. vi. p. 213, and Vol. vii. p. 491.] 



