Firmness of Bacon. 



213 



that the experiment, so far as it goes, indicates that the 

 ration of 6 lbs. per head of cake and meal was more profit- 

 able than one of 10 lbs. 



The Firmness of Bacon. 



The Report of the Agricultural College of Ontario, for the 

 year 1898, contains an account of some experiments under- 

 taken with swine to determine the effect of food and exercise 

 upon the quality of the meat produced from the animals, 

 particularly with regard to its suitability for bacon. It 

 appears that there have been complaints that Canadian 

 bacon is occasionally soft : and one object of the experiments 

 was to discover how far this characteristic is affected by 

 certain methods of feeding and handling the pigs. 



It is explained that " soft " bacon is not " fat " bacon, and 

 that recent observations indicate that softness is more likely 

 to develop in hog's that are too lean than in those that are 

 ~too fat. The softness develops while the bacon is in the salt, 

 and when taken out of the salt the fat is soft and spongy, 

 the value of the bacon being reduced according to the degree 

 of softness. 



Three different classes of animals were chosen for these 

 experiments, and they were divided into three groups. 



The first group consisted of twelve hogs which had been 

 running on the stubble-fields for six weeks. The animals, 

 which were well-grown and fleshy, each weighing about 

 1 10 lbs., were divided for experimental purposes into 

 three lots, and fed on the following rations for six weeks 

 before slaughtering : — Lot 1, rape and maize meal, the meal 

 ration being two-thirds of that fed to the other animals ol 

 this group ; Lot 2, a full ration of maize meal ; and Lot 3, a 

 full ration of equal parts, by weight, of peas, barley, and 

 shorts. 



The second group comprised eleven hogs, which were 

 purchased when about six weeks old, and were kept in pens 

 until they were slaughtered. They were fed on wheat mid- 

 dlings, and wheat middlings with shorts mixed with skim 

 milk, until they weighed between ninety and one hundred 



