The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1893-05-09
RaIse Your Own Bacon.

We read few days ago paragraph IN
a daily paper which stated that a farmer III
a Deichboring county had just brought to
this city three home-raised bacon hams winch
he exchanged for three barrels of good flour,
one hundred pounds of rice and one hun
dred pounds of sugar. The paragraph re
marks: About $50 for three hams is Il
pretty fair illustrition of how 1t pays to
raise hogs" The remark assumes that the
bacon was produced at greatly less
cost than it brought i'll market and we nave
no doubt that it was. The three hams Sob
ably weighed about one hundred and atty
pounds. which. ut 2-3 cents per pound
the wholesale price quoted in the same paper
would amount to just $50 and this
would buy the three barrels of flour, 1''j
pounds of sugar and 100 pounds of
There is Il valuable lesson in this sim
statement According to the prevailing. Gus
tom in the SOUTH bacon, III some form OF
other, is one of the most important ar
ticles of food in the whole list. 1t is not
equal to flour, but is more SO than sugar
or rice The incident illustrates the views
in regard to diversifying crops which were
recently presented in this column. 1t would
be interesting to know just what this 30
worth of bacon actually cost the thrifty
tain--no one can justly blame that man
for not producing his flour, sugar and rice,
all of which he might have done. But
think of it. The time and labor of produc-
ing $50 pounds of bacon has. realized by
exchange of products a quantity and var-
ETY. of staple food articles that would go at
least twice as far in gratifying the food
wants, of the family, ,oa Six hundred
pounds of flour, 100 pounds
500 pounds of solid, substantial food in
exchange for $50 pounds Of bacon, is GER
tainly a good trade.
Probably the bacon cost the farmer not
more than & cents pound If no more
then the transaction is equivalent to buy
for 80 e'' p''' u "'D'' ''s"' anu ''''
The incident would furnish good text
for Il short discourse on raising your own
Bacon" and We prefer TO make that use
of it. Suppose the farmer had not raised
his own bacon, and "a little to spare
He would then have needed to buy several
hundred pounds of it to hold out with the
500 pounds of -four sugar and rice. Where
would the money come from? The answer
is PATRON the sale of cotton grown at
cost of probably not less than & or Z cents
a pound and sold for Z or S cents per pound
This would be a profit of-say / cent per
pound on the cotton, and Il loss of from
to 10 cents Il pound on the bacon. from
the failure to raise his own bacon. Who
will have the hardhoOd TO deny the sub
stantial correctness of these figures and
the s0undness of the conclusion? That is
just what the majority Of the farmers of
the strictly cotton states are doing.
Who says the farmer cannot raise his
own bacon| The man who is doing this
very thing does not say so, but on the
contrary, he proves that it can be done.
What can be done by one farmer can be
done by any farmer who has good common
sense. industry and ordinary skill. Hog
raising is comparatively safe and sure
business. far more certain, in the long run.
than raising either cotton or corn. We
know what We are talking about, having
been born and reared on Il bacon raising
farm. and followed the business for twenty
years We have had a few hogs die of
cholera. and once in great while one lost
either stolen or ''unaccounted for but
in the course of twenty years, with the
exception of two or three, we had no diff
tculty in raising plenty of bacon when
the effort was made. and on the whole sold
more than we ever bought.
Cholera does kill hogs. Sometimes every
pig and porker and old SOW on n farm
will fall victims. But with good breed,
good pastures. clean water and little
attention every day there is really little
other hogs The neglect of the southern
farmer to ''rase his own bacon" is one Of
the greatest reproaches on his intelligence
and Judgment.
To say nothing of the cured products
of the hoC-the hams and the middlngs.
the shoulders and the lard-thinll of a
farmers family growing up in ignorance
of the delight OF the hog-kiIlinG season.
the sparcribs and backbones. tho sweet
breads and molts the sausagcs Gnown to
no call pork,') the pigs feet. and souco,
etc. How MANY farmer hoys, whose
fathers raised their own bacon" hove
bed the experience Of subsequent city life.
without realizing the immcasurabla diffcr-
en-o between the old time sausage and
pigs feet of the old country home and the
H., haa ct,,
whiteleathar bears feet so often Gf not
mainlv) found in city butcher stalls.
Tarmers-Raisc your own bacon.
r. J. REDDING.