PRODUCTION OF PORK AND BACON CURING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2319, 11 August 1898, Page 4

PRODUCTION OF PORK AND BACON CURING.

When it is considered that for some tints past fresh pork has commanded nearly; double the price obtainable for best qualities_of beef and iraitton, there should not be the"*felightest difficulty in proving that the production of pork by our farmers would be far more profitable to them than the manufacture of any other kind of meat. No one will be disposed to dispute the assertion that we have an exceptionally favourable climate for providing cheap supplies of pig foods best suited for the production of the finest and most valuable kind of poik. in the rcarage, if nob in the fattening, pigs require a large amount of vegetable food, and in this colony green crops — such as clovers, tares, etc., can be grown for theva in greater variety and at all seasons of the year than elsewhere. Clover, vetches, and such like are much relished, and more espejialb' by those pigs not allowed a daily run on grass. Potatoes, parsnips, carrots, mangels, and turnips may all be cheaply provided, as may barley, oats, peas, and beans, without taking into account the usual supplies of small and unmarketable grain, so that given a good variety of pigs to start with a well-managed herd would probably pay better than any other live stock on (he farm. In the history of pig-farming in the colony there have been alternations of prosperous ond adverse years. Whenever prices were high pig-keeping was taken lip with avidity, and owing to the fecundity of swine they were in a short time overabundant again. While cows and ewe* merely, add units to herds and flocks, the sow yielis two litters of eight, ten, or a dorxn each* Again, bacon -curers were few and far between, and the outlet or demand for tho cured article was inappreciable, so that 111 a very short time the supply of baeoners got largely in excess of the demand once more, and the depression was so great that breeding was again abandoned. It is, however, the opinion of many who have I alee a the trouble to study the subject that a considerable export trade in pig products ir.ay ea&ily be established on a sound basis, wil'lj gieat advantage to the agriculture of Ihe colony, and especially to the dairy-farming industry.

O.ic genera! fact should bo borne in mind — the do&e association between dairying and bacon-curing. No better examples of tliis can be fouad than in Denmark and Canada. In the making of butter there is a large byproduct in the separated milk, and it. is a demonstrated fact that this separated milk is one of the be&fc materials for feeding pigs. So whey is also in degree, it being understood that in feeding to pigs both milk and v/hej' are associated witli other soluble foods. The Di'ines have seen and acknowledged this truth, and as a consequence they have developed an enormous bacon trade, though Denmark is a bacon-curing country of only recent giowth. Up to 1890 that country; sent live pigs to England, but since the;i hab not sent any, and ha? gone on increasing her exports of bacon from year to year, and until a year or two ago was 1110 chief foreign source of supplies of high-01.1^3 bacon to British markets, bub Canada has come so rapidly to the front that there L: little doubt that the supplies from there have injuriously affected the market sor Danish meats. When the export of l : vo pigs from Denmark was stopped in 1890, (l-o fanners had to adapt themselves to tho ne.v condilions. They therefore formed themselves into co-operative societies and bulb

bacon factories throughout the country. Writing on the subject in the Royal Agilcultural Society's Journal, Mr Loudon 'vf. Douglas gives tlie total number of suck factories in Denmark as 41, of which 19 010 private and 22 belong to farmers' co-opera-tive societies. He writes further : " Tho number of pigs slaughtered for bacon in Denmark aveiagcd, three years ago, about 22,000 to 25,000 weekly { the average of 1897 will not exceed 17,000 per week. TLo cause of this great decrease is principally in connection with the shortage of food and the increased price of Indian corn, barley ond other food stuffs. Denmark is entirely, an importing country for the food supplied to swine and other live stock, and a very, slight increase of price shows its effect at once. Of course, the basis of all food for Danish pigs is separated milk. In +iie

United Si sites the food is mostly Indim corn ; in Canada, it is to <a large extent pea meal, and hence tlie firm quality of the meat. In Denmark and Sweden the food is imported — Eu&sian or other barley, etc. In fact, Denmark, from its small size and the character of its land, cannot produce the foo J. required. . . . Nevertheless, under these adverse conditions the Danes have made the pig industry a profitable one, and one of the leading industries too. All classes arc interested in growing j)igs from the extensive landowners to the cottars, and the farming societies throughout the country make the study of the pig and how lo get most profit out of it tlie leading topic." Particulars relating to the growing airl breeding of pigs in Sweden are also instructive. In that country there are eight exp i:'t bacon factories, all well equipped with appliances and accommodation for turning OLfc immense quantities of bacon. But since 1890 the Swedish Government lias, in its wisdom, adopted protective tariffs on food shift's, and so practically destroyed the industry. It is interesting to follow the course pursued by the Swedish Government, as it is an object lesson to all who care to learn it. In 1890 tbe bacon industry was in a flourishing condition in Sweden when the first prohibitive tariff was imposed on food stuffs. From that year* up till now the stringency of these tariffs has been increased until, at the present lime, the bacon factories are practically] idle. The duties on barley, maize, beans, and peas are Is lOd per cwt. When it is considered that this figure represents some->

Jadoo, for potting plan! 13, raising seeds,etc. Jadoo increases the size of flowers, prolongs their season of bloom, and is indispensable for the garden or nursery.— Nimmo and Blair, Duuedia