Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-11-06

TU0 HOG OrOp.
The Cincinnati Gazette of the 4th inst.
says: The question of chief commercial
Importance in the West at this season OF the
year, and especially this year, is the extent
of the hog crop, and the ability of home and
foreign markets to consume it. We have
entered upon season such as has had no
parallel in the annals of the trade. Inc
country has had three successive seasons or
Sn abundant yield of corn, which is essential
TO make good pork, and the price has
fallen so that feeding it to hogs Is the
most profitable disposition which
can be made Of it in the larger part
of the West. The result is seen in the num-
Der of hogs packed in the West, which IN
1870 was over one million more than IN
1869, and in 1871 over 100000 more than
in 1870, besides large increase in the num-
Der sent East. This year all of the forces
which have combined TO produce this In
crease for two years preceding have been at
work, and all the indications are that they
have had the same result. The yield OF
corn is larger than was ever before known,
and the area of the corn raising country has
been pushed further west and northwest
than formerly. Even the Southern States
have an abundant crop, aud are making
their own pork to an unprecedented extent.
This corn will be fed to hogs if they
are to be found. The statistics of the
Agricultural Bureau inform US that there
was in February of this year s per cent
more hogs in the West than one year pre-
ceediDg, or an increase of nearly l,6OO,OOO
head. According TO the reports of the Au-
ditors of the United States of Ohio, Iowa,
and Missouri, there were in those three
States on the LIST of April 1876, 800 more hogs
six months old and upward than one year
previous, with the great hog raising States
of Indiana, Illinois, and Kansas to hear
from. This indicates That there is no
scarcity of hogs to be fattened, from which
it follows that the increase viii be fully as
large over last year as it then was over the
year preceding, and it is an under rather
than an over estimate that the West, after
making full allowance for all the hogs to be
shipped East, will pack 100000
this year. Where are We to find
market for the manufactu red
product of these hogs? We commence
the season with the Western market bare
of stock, with the exception of few thOus-
rnd tierces of lard and a few million
pounds Of shoulders here and pretty good
stock Of mess pork in Chicago, so that the
early packing will go into consumption
about as fast as it is ready for market, but
similar condition prevailed last year, and
there is no good reason to expect that the
home demand for provisions viii absorb
more than it did last year, so that we must
look abroad foI customers of our surplus
product. Europe is in condition favora-
bic for this purpose. Ireland has had a
partial failure Of the potato crop, and Eng
land of wheat. Great Britain as
a whole, has no more, if as many
hogs as last year, and viii require as
much of our surplus, and probably more,
if it can be obtained at lower prices. Ger
many has become one of our best custo-
mers for provisions, and may be relied on
to purchase as freely as last year, and
France, Holland, aud other European cOun-
tries may take a moderate increase. The
effect of low prices in stimulating the for
eign demand was demonstrated during the
season just closed. Our foreign exports Of
pork and lard amounted TO 52O,OOO,O00
pounds in round hunters, which is just
double that of the preceding year. Now,
if we are correct in our estimate Of the in-
crease in the number OF hogs 10 be packd
in the West, we will have a surplus Of
100000 pounds, for which we want
foreign customers, or 240,0O0,000 pounds
more than last year, for with the increase
in hog raising in the Southern States, we
cannot count upon any increase in the
home demand over last year. Now there
is only one way ID stimulate the foreign
demand up to the point which will absorb
our increased surplus, and that is by offer
ing it at low prices. That it will be taken,
and taken at low prices, is certain, no mat
ter what packers pay for hogs, for if con-
sumption is checked By high prices early in
the season, the market will break
down later by its own weight.
The question of the supply of hogs
next summer has an important bearing up
on what winter cured product will bring,
for it is we'll known that ice cured meats
find ready purchasers in foreign markets.
There can be scarcely doubt that, with
the immense corn crop in the country, the
number Of summer hogs next season will
be larger than eger, and that packers must
be prepared TO meet a strong competition
from summer packing. With these facts
before them, it is not strange that packers
feel indifferent about commencing opera
tions, and that many of them have deter
mined to remain idle rather than take the
immense risks, unless they can buy hogs at
much lower prices than now prevail.