4 DEPARTMENT BULLETIN 1492, TJ. S. DEPT. OP AGRICULTURE 
At the close of each year's work a conference of representatives 
of the institutions cooperating in the investigations was held. The 
complete results of the experiments were presented and analyzed. 
Such conclusions as seemed justified were drafted and approved by 
the conference to be made public. When sufficient authentic data and 
conclusions had been accumulated the conference recommended the 
publication of a bulletin. The present bulletin is the second so 
recommended in connection with these cooperative soft-pork investi- 
gations. As a final step the annual conference, having at hand com- 
plete information as to the status of each phase of the work, formu- 
lated a program of experiments for the following year. The various 
Fig. 3. — Fresh bacon from oily and hard carcasses 
stations then planned their work for the year to conform to this 
program. 
FUNDAMENTALS OF THE PROBLEM 
It has been indicated that softness of the fat is responsible for 
softness in hog carcasses and products. Conversely, when the fat of 
a carcass is firm the carcass and products are firm. The soft-pork 
problem is fundamentally, therefore, a fat problem. Study of body 
fat and of the constituents which enter into its production is a basic 
requirement of these investigations. 
The quantity and quality of the fat in feeds exert a wide range of 
influence on the firmness of body fat. It is well known that when 
the fat of feeds is stored by the hog there is no essential change in 
