The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-10-12
THE PIGS BIG JOB IN WAR.
He Must Furnish Most of the Fat and
Much Of the Worlds Food.

When the government decided that
food would win the war big share of
the job was turned over to the American
hog. The sad experience of Germany
because Of lack Of fats was largely re-
spou-ible for the decision to put the pig
into the front trench with wheat. Tor
there il no device SO efficient a. the pig
for turning vegetation into grease. The
department Of agriculture began an in
tensiye campaign TO increase the hog
population faster that the butchers could
reduce it. Farmers bulletins were pre-
pared covering every phase Of the swine
industry as an encouragement 70 Hra
stock raiscrs to increase their herds and
20 induce farmers who raised only their
own pork TO raise more. Trcatises on
swine management, breeds of swine, NOV
able hog houses, self feeders for hogs,
hog cholera, hog tuberculosis, and many
other such topics were prepared by the
governments experts and sent broad
cast over the land.
Then the idea of the Boys Pig clubs
took hold, and every farmer was urged
to turn over to every boy on every farm
at least one pig to raise into hog on
his own account. The plan was great
success. The boys took more interest
in their pigs than their fathers did, and
some record pOrkers were marketed by
the boys Last year 10000 boys raised
one or more pigs each and this year
more than 100000 youngsters are III the
pork business. Girls enyious of the prof
its and prestige of their brothers. are
getting into the game and are making
success of IT,
Now the department of agriculture is
fostering propaganda for still more hogs.
Not only on the FARMS but also in
the small towns and suburbs, where space
is available, every one who can should
raise one or more pigs and thus furnish
the pork supply for himself and perhaps
for a soldier says the department S
latest appeal. To help these urban and
suburban pig raiscrs, literature has been
prepared. telling all about hog production
on a small scale and in limited area
which will be sent free to any one who
wants to try the experiment. In its ar
gument the department says:
Pork is the mainstay of the ration OF
the laboring man and the soldier. and the
need for increasing the supply Of fat,
is especially great. The need for meat
and fats can be met more quickly by in
crcasing the number of hogs than il
any other manner Hogs require les
labor, equipment and capital, make great
or gains for the quantity Of food fed anC
give a quicker turnover of money thar
any kind of live stock except poultry
Furthermore, pork products have the ad
vantage Of being easily transported y,
branch of live stock farming gives bet
ter results than the intelligent raisin,
of we'll bred swine
AS "a consumer of by products tn
hog has no rival, which Is an additional
reason for pork raising now when tn
elimination of waste is an emphatic ne
cessty There is ample evidence tina
where table scraps form part of al
Of the pigs diet the gains cost consid
erably less than the grains made b
gran-fcd animals.
"There is no best breed of swim,
Some breeds are superior to Others j
certain respects and one breed may i
better adapted than another TO certai
local conditions. There are two distm,
tive types, the lard type and the baco
type Swine Of the lard type far on
number those of the bacon type in Il
United States
In the olden days when bacon sol
for ten cents a pound and ham for
or 20. the lard type of hog, that Is, u
short bodied, short legged, round an
NAL, was made profitable, for he pr,
duced more ham. shoulder. sausage az
mess pork. But now. when bacon
more than half a dollar pound al
ham less than 40 cents, the bacon he