71 
PIGS AND BACON. 
I COULD not better commence this article than by stating, and 
I do so with very much pleasure, that the general quality of 
the English pig has never been better than it is to-day, and 
that from the bacon curer’s point of view the character and 
breed now predominating show a marked improvement when 
compared with those of twenty years ago. It is not an easy 
matter to forecast the future prospects of the feeder and the 
curer ; indeed, it is not possible for me to do so very closely, 
but I trust the information I am able to give on the various 
phases of the subject will assist others to form rather more 
accurate opinions for themselves than they otherwise would 
do. That the interests of the feeder and curer are indissolubly 
bound up together needs no emphasis from me, but I think 
I may fairly state that a greater mutual understanding exists 
between the two than was the case years ago, which is, of 
course, a desirable state of things, and one which characterises 
the position of our foreign rivals. I will first refer to the 
Breed. 
Exceptionally good results have attended the strenuous 
efforts made during the past twenty years to improve the 
breed of the British hog, or rather, to so change the breed 
as to produce the class of meat that will yield the best return ; 
which of course means yielding the meat demanded by the 
bacon curers, who are in turn governed by the requirements 
of the consuming public. Amongst the efforts referred to it 
may be stated that some years ago my own firm expended 
large sums of money in the gratuitous circulation of hundreds 
of pedigree boars throiighout the West and South of England, 
whilst concurrently the Irish bacon curers were exerting 
themselves in similar fashion in their territory ; and it is only 
a year or so ago that a similar scheme was carried through in 
Cornwall, one of the largest pig-producing counties — by a 
combination on the part of all the leading bacon curers of the 
West of England. The class of boar mainly supplied was the 
Large White Yorkshire which, crossed with Berkshire sows, is 
considered best adapted for production of the present-day 
bacon hog. Needless to add, we confined our purchases to the 
noted breeders. And now as i-egards the results : Fifty years 
ago it was the rule rather than the exception to kill pigs for 
bacon at ten to fourteen score, or even heavier, but the public 
taste gradually veered i*ound to the other extreme during the 
eighties and early nineties until, in 1893, the bacon curers 
