AGRICULTURAL SURVEY OF EUROPE : GERMANY 
93 
grain and other feedstuff's. They also are turned into the fields after 
the harvest and in some instances are herded on grass, especially in 
the south. During the fattening period the improved breeds are 
universally housed. In Bavaria and some other parts of Germany 
the native unimproved swine run in the woods and fields and are never 
housed. 
BREEDS 
Several of the large white English breeds, as well as Berkshire 
are popular throughout Germany, though found for the most part 
in the north and northwest dairy sections. (Table 77.) Improved 
native pigs are bred especially in Hanover, Saxony, and Westphalia 
for size and to mature a little later than the finer English breeds. 
In Bavaria, Hanover, and Brunswick hardy late-maturing strains are 
popular, where swine are bred to withstand all conditions of climate, 
as they are kept at all times in the open. The sows of this breed 
crossed with Berkshires or Large Whites, produce pigs that can be 
fattened profitably. 
Table 77. — Swine: Breeds in the German Empire, 1912 
Name 
Feed 
District 
Characteristics 
Large White (im- 
ported from English 
breeders) . 
Improved Native (lop- 
Skim milk, potatoes, roots, 
grains, and other feed- 
stuffs; pastured in fields 
after the harvest and on 
grass. 
Same as above 
Distributed all over Ger- 
many; largest numbers 
are on the large dairy 
farms of the northwest. 
Every part of Germany; 
especially in Hanover, 
Saxony, and Westphalia. 
A few herds scattered 
throughout Germany. 
Hanover, Brunswick and 
Bavaria. 
General-purpose animal; 
meat of fine texture. 
Hardy, later maturing, 
and coarser flesh than 
above. 
Early maturing, good 
meat animal. 
Long legs and narrow 
bodies; late maturing, 
coarse meat; sows used 
to cross with Berk- 
shires and Large 
Whites. 
eared marsh pigX 
English Whites). 
Berkshire (imported 
from England). 
Native pigs.. 
do 
Run in woods, pastures, 
and harvest fields; never 
housed. 
Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft, Berlin. 
PRE-WAR SWINE SITUATION 
During the 30-year period preceding the war Germany vastly 
expanded her swine production both in actual numbers and in 
relative density, the numbers of swine increasing almost twice as 
rapidly as the population. 
In 1883 there were 9,206,000 swine in Germany, or 204 per 1 ? 000 
inhabitants. By 1913 the number had increased to 25,659,000, or 
395 per 1,000 inhabitants. 
The development of the swine industry is limited by the factors 
entering into cost of meat production; that is to say, the relation 
of the price received at the farm (influenced by the market price of 
fresh and prepared pork products imported into the country) and 
the cost of feed, much of which, especially for finishing the hogs, 
must be imported. This balance between the price receivable and 
the cost of feeding stuffs is the limiting factor not only in swine 
production but in the production of all animals and animal products. 
