Arizona republican., 1898-06-23
A PROBLEM IN SWINE FEEDING.

4 PROBLEM IN SWINE FEEDING. :he American farmer wants a mar ket for his immense products of grain and meat. The idea that meat is neat regardless of quality, has been too thoroughly ground into his make up. Gradually it is beginning to dawn on his mental horizon that there are different grades-that have their cor responding values.
 Secretary Wilson's suggestions and publications regarding American pork in the English markets, emphasize the fact that there is a great difference in the quality of the pork made in diff ferent countries, and while the Alneri- cans grow more of it than any other nation, it is plain that too much of it is "cheap stuff;" not what the fastidi- ous Englishman is willing to pay high prices for. The Danes and Canadians are held up to us as examples worthy of imitation. because they have learned the art of satisfying the i1rglishman's taste for pork and because one I,ound of their pork brings as much as two of ours.
 The whole matter seems to hinge OF two points, feed and breed Without the different kinds of food used it would have beer utterly impossible to develop the breeds that make the par excellence bacon hog. But knowing how quickly the pig can be made to ad- just itself to surrounding conditions, it is useless to invest in English breeding stock to procure what we already have on our farms. Admitting that Amer jean breeds have been produced with a strong tendency toward laying on fat, feel satisfied that it will be much easier to overcome this tendency than it was to develop it.
 The Canadian pork, as well as the Danish, must, on account of climatic conditions, cost more than the cheap article the Americans put on the Eng fish market. I believe that Americans can produce this finer quality of ba- con at lower cost than either of the other countries. If these countries can import our grain products and secure a profit in the production of a higher grade of meat than we produce, we cer- tairly should secure profit by putting the same grain into the more con- denSed form of meats.
 The whole trouble with the matter lies in the fact that the American farm CT will not judiciOusly use the foods at his command. Oil meal, one of our most valuable foods, is exported to feed the Englishman's livestock, secondariIy his land. We will not feed it because we think it too expensive in compari- son with other foods. For example. corn at our station last fall was worth 20 cents per bushel, or $7.14 per ton; oil meal was s20 per ton wholesale which made it three times as much at OFT station per ton as corn.
 It would thus be very hard to con- vince any of our neighbor farmers and hog growers that there would be any profit in hauling three tons of corn to market and purchasing one ton of oil meal to be fed to swine in place of the corn. If we could say to them that the product of this feeding would compete with Canadian and Danish pork on the English market, they could not be in Guced to make the exchange because, first, they do not believe there is any thing in this kind of feeding, and, sec end, because they would not expect a share of this advanced price, as the
 
 it all
 Still, there are cheaper foods that we car use and accomplish the same re- suit. The mill products are in the reach of every farmer and can be fed witL profit Yet there comes up against tue use of these the belief, held by al- most all, that the feed consumed should be grown on the farm, that it is suicid- al to purchase foods. At usual prices for bran and middlings here, it would take the value of two tons of corn to deliver ton of either on the farm. When corn will give as good returns per ton in pounds as these other foods, it is very hard to convince the farmer that it is to his advantage to use them.
 Packers must make a greater diff ference in prices they pay for the sev- eral qualities of hogs in the market if they expect the farmers to produce just the kind they want. Making state nents to the farmers that their hogs are too fat will not work the change. But clear statement as to the kind of hogs wanted, and an advance in price corresponding with what they (the packers) expect to get for these fancy grades of pork, will put the mat