1 Juyz, 1900.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 467 
oats, and peas produce the most solid and best flavoured meat. Potatoes 
produce a soft pork. By-products of the flour mill make an inferior pork. Oil 
meals produce pork that is oily and of poor flavour. The meat made from 
feeding beans is without flavour, and hard and indigestible. 
THE BACON PIG. 
In the course of a consular report to the United States, the Bristol Consul, 
Mr. Lathrop, after pointing out how the American pig-breeder was missing the 
British bacon market, says :— 
He (the pig-breeder) will have to begin at the beginning—that is to say, 
he must change the type of pig. He would find the importing of some 
Tamworths the best way to do this. Some boars of this lean and sweet-fleshed 
breed would rapidly effect a change in the hogs in a district, and the new type 
could be fixed by care in feeding, the main thing being not to feed on maize. 
No maize-fed pig will make bacon satisfactory to the English consumer. Firm 
flesh and firm fat in limited quantity cannot be obtained from corn. Once the 
desired type is obtained, the curing is an easy matter. The singed side would 
probably be found to be the most satisfactory cut for the market. A packer 
that will take the trouble to thus study the English market, and will patiently 
and carefully strive to meet its requirements, will find that his brand is speedily 
established, and that dealers will be eager for his wares at remunerative prices. 
FERTILITY OF PIGS. 
Under good management a brood sow may multiply herself by sixteen to 
twenty in one year, and repeat this excellent performance for several years. 
For one animal to increase from 180 to 200 times in the course of its life is one 
of the remarkable instances of the profit that may be made from certain branches 
of agricultural practice, when intelligence and skill are brought to bear on the 
industry. In each year the produce of the sow may be available for market 
within the twelve months. The profit of any kind of live stock depends chiefly 
upon the rapidity with which it is matured and the smallest quantity of feeding 
for the marketable product made. No other animal grows so rapidly in so short 
a time as the pig, or makes a more saleable product. Now, in order to make 
the sow do her part, and give the greatest number of strong, healthy pigs, it 
will be necessary to husband her strength as much as possible. She should not 
be bred until she is one year old. Then she should be bred to farrow about April 
_ and September. ‘These are the best months in the year for the pigs to come. 
The April pigs, with proper care and management, can be put on the market in 
November or December. The September pigs, if properly cared for, will be 
large enough to stand the cold weather, and will be a nice age for feeding up 
for the June market. 
AN ENORMOUS PIG. 
The largest pig that probably was ever reared was recently slaughtered in 
| New York. The animal was a Jersey red boar, two and a-half years old, 
Weighing, when alive, 1,609 1b., and when killed and dressed 1,336 Ib. 
1 The National Provisioner has the following to say of this prodigy :— 
“The huge swine measured over 9 feet from tip of its nose to end of its tail. 
It measured 23 feet across the loin, 2 feet across the ham, and 6 feet in girth. 
This makes the pig 3 feet through. It is split at the shoulder, and to look 
into the great carcass is like looking into the crevice of a cavern. The carcass 
Spreads across the perspective of the store like a Titanic statue of Pork per- 
Sonified. It also ate like the body of the great hog god embalmed and 
Teposing in its gigantic majesty. From hip-bone to toe it measures 3+ feet, 
and about the same from the crest of the shoulder-blade to the bottom of the 
foot. The great fat jowls extend nearly 2 feet across. From between the ears 
to the tail is over 7 feet. The tail itself is the smallest thing in the big proportions. 
t is’a mere point in the air. The face of the pig is also small for the size of 
