Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1874-08-20

day.
Pork as an Article OF Food.
If we examine the case from an i'm
partial and unbiased standpoint, and Oil
vest all that has been said against pork
and porkers from everything that is inn
aginary or not true, and take the fanati-
cism the idiosyncracies, and the ignorance
of those lecturers and writers for simply
what they deserve, we shall find, first,
that pork is not contemplate, useless,
unwholesome, and unsubstantial food !;
and man who has to do hard days
work, and has to eat his bread in the
sweat of his face, does by no means de-
spise it, but prefers it very often to the
choicest beef or mutton. This is but
natural, for pork furnishes more almost
than anything else, not only the elements
required to support the respiratory proc
ess, but also those which are principally
needed by the organism of "a laboring
man to repair the continual organic
wastes of material, as modified and in
creased by hard labor. 1t is true that
pork can be too fat, or be too badly
served or prepared by the cook to be
tasty, even to the palate Of a laboring
man; but so can beef and mutton and
everything else, as can be found out very
easily in certain boarding houses.
Neither is pork so very unsubstantial an
article of food as some of those writers
and lecturers are anxious to make us
believe. While the body of almost every
other domesticated animal contains be-
tween Sc and rs per cent Of water, the
body of fat pig contained, according to
analysis made in the Royal Agricultural
College at Eldena, in Prussia, only 45.3
per cent. and the remainder, the water
free substance, contained 90. per cent.
of proteine substances, 27.1 per cent. OF
fat, and per cent of mineral sub
stances. 1t is true that pork is not so
rich in nitrogen as beef, for instance
but it is not nitrogen alone that is re-
quired in the food.
Pork of course is not always of the
same quality. Its frmness or softness
and oiliness, respectively, depend, first,
upon the breed of the animal, and Sec
ondly, upon the kind of food with which
the same has been fattened. The So
called improved breeds produce firm
pork, containing good deal of muscle,
if the same have comparatively but little
blood of the small breeds of Southern
climate, and produce a soft and oily pork
if the same have but little, or scarcely
any, blood of the old hog of England or
of Central Europe. The food also causes
considerable difference in the quality of
the pork. Barley produces the tirmest
and most solid pork, and oats produce
the softest--even softer and more oily
than that produced by feeding corn.
The fat of hogs fattened with barley be-
comes fluid at 1852 Fahrenheit, and
the fat of hogs fattened with oats at
100.4o Fahrenheit. The former, when
fluid, stlffens in one hour at temperature
of $500 Fahrenheit, and the latter in six
hours at temperature of 1929 Fahren-
heit. Consequently, one who prefers
very solid pork must choose a pig of a
large breed, and must fatten it with bar.
ley, and one who desires his pork soft
may select a small breed and fatten the
same with corn or with oats.
1t may be well to remark here that the
feeding of much salt Chloride of sodi-
UNI is injurious to pigs, and interfcres
with their growth and with the process
of fattening. Investigating further, we
shall find, secondly, that pigs are much
better than their reputation, and have
done and are doing much more for man
kind than mankind has done, and is do
ing, for them. First, there is no domesti-
Gated animal, that is, as a general rule,
so much neglected by its owner and left
to its own resources before it Is fattened
for the shambles as apig; and still there
is no other animal that converts its food
so soon into food for human beings Sec
ondly, pig is an omnivorous animal t;
that is, it can feed and thrive on both
animal and vegetable substances; it is
not very particular, and consumes with
some relish almost any offal from the Ia
BILE, from the dairy, and from the kitchen
and garden, which can be scarcely
utilized in any other way, with
which it eats the grain of the field, the
grass and clover of the pasture, and the
acorns of the forest. Therefore almost
any family can raise and fatten one or
two pigs with scarcely any expense what
ever. Thirdly, pigs are accused of being
dirty and filthy and fond of wallowing in
the mud. This is calumny, for scarcely
any of our domestic animals keeps its
stall and its bedding as clean as pig,
provided the latter is not compelled by
the carelessness or by the ignorance of
its owner to sleep and to deposit its ex-
crements at the same place, but is pro-
vided with good, dry, warm, wcll-lit-
tered and well-ventilated pen to sleep in,
and with a yard which it can walk into
at its own pleasure. Further, there is no
animal that Is more fond of being brushed,
rubbed, washed and petted, or that en-.
joys good bath in clean, fresh and cool
water as much as does a pig, especially
in the summer, when a daily bath is so
essential to the health of the animal. A
L L L.,
no other opportunity is left.-Cor. CHI
cago Tribune.