The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-02-01
Por x as Mn Article Of Fond

If we examine the case from an impartial
and unbiased standpoint, and divest all that
has been said against pork and porkers from
everything that is imaginary or not true, and
take the fanaticism, and the idiosyncracies,
and the ignorance of those lecturers and
writers for simply that which they deserve,
we shall find first, that pork is not a con-
temptible. useless, unwholesome, and unsub-
stantial article of food; and man who has
to do hard days work, and eat his bread in
the sweat of his face, does by no means des-
pise it, but very often prefers it to the choic-
est beef or mutton. This is but natural, for
pork furnishes more almost than anything
else, not only of the elements required to
support the respiratory process, but also
those which are principally needed by
the organism of a laboring man to
repair the continual organic waste of
material, as modified and increased by
hard labor. 1t is true pork can be too fat
or too badly served or prepared by the cook
to be tasty, even to the palate of laboring
man; but so can beef and mutton, and every
thing else, as can be found out very easily in
certain boarding houses. Neither is pork so
very uusubstantial 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 mammal contains
from sixty-six TO seventy-five per cent. of
water, the body of fat pig contained, ac-
cordtng to analysis made in the Royal Agr-
cultural College at Eldena, in Prussia, only
1913 per cent, and the remainder, the water
free substance, contained 20.1 per cent. of
protein substances, TIL per cent. of fat, and
3 per cent. of mineral substances. 1t is true
that pork is not so rich in nitrogen as beef,
for instance, but it is not nitrogen alone that
is required for food.
Pork, of course, is not always of the same
&c fir.av an oil
ness, respectively, depend, first, upon the
breed of the animal, and secondly, upon the
kind of food with which the same has been
fattened. As a general rule, the small breeds
of hogs, but especially the small Chinese and
East India pigs, and the pigs of Naples and
their descendants, have much softer pork
than the larger breeds of England and Cen
trail Europe and their descendants. The So
called improved breeds produce firm pork
containing good deal of muscle. The food
also causes considerable difference in the
quality of the pork. Barley produces the
firmest and most solid pork, and oats pro-
duce the softest-even softer and more oily
than that produced by feeding corn. The fat
of hogs fattened with barley becomes fluid at
1858 deg. F., and the fat of hogs fattened
with oats, at 1904 deg. f. Consequently,
one who prefers very solid pork must choose
pig of a large breed and must fatten it with
barley land one who desires his pork soft
may select small breed and fatten the same
with corn or oats.
1t may be well to remark here that the
feeding Of much salt Chloride of sodium
is injurious to pigs, and interferes with their
growth and with the process of fattening.
Investigating further, we shall find, secondly,
that pigs are much better than their reputa-
ton, and have done, and are doing, much
more for mankind than mankind has done,
or is doing for them. First, there is no do
mestcated animal that is, as general rule,
SO much neglected by its owner. and left to
its own resources before it is fattened for the
shambles, as pig, and still there is no other
animal that converts its food so soon into
food for human beings. Secondly, a pig is
an omniyorous animal; that is, can live and
thrive on both animal and vegetable substan-
ces; is not very particular, and consumes
with some relish almost any offal from the
table, the dairy, and from the kitchen and
garden, which can scarcely be utilized in anv
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 whatever.
Thirdly, pigs are accused of being dirty and
filthy, and fond of wallowing in the mud.
This is calumny, for scarcely any of our do
mestic animals keeps its stall and its bedding
as clean as pig, provided the latter is not
compelled by the carelessness or ignorance Of