PIGS BY THE MILLION

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2697, 17 February 1916, Page 8

PIGS BY THE MILLION

The statement is made in commercial returns for the Chicago, district that the price of pigs there last year was a little less than in the previous twclvo months although tho average price was the third highest'in the history of the business. Eeceipts of pigs at Chicago fell from 7,570,938 ili 1913 to 6,627,900 in 1911. The Agricultural Department has reportod.'that ou January 1, 1915, there were pigs in the United States.as compared with 58,933,000 on .'the'eoriosponding day 'of 1914, or an increase of 9.6 per cent. This advance is considered by tho authorities to be very satisfactory, as it was feared at one time that inadequate attention was.bein'g/givch- in America to pig-breeding, .twith'-.tho -result,"that pork prices showed >tiendcucy",to;rise. The values of pigs .{per.-head -were,: marked last year by a, "slightVdeclihe, being £2 os. Bd., as .'against £2.25. lOd. in the previous year. The number of pigs in Chicago district or. ■ January. 1, 1915, was 28,318,000, or over 43 per cent, of the total in America. With regard to the Government meat inspection, it is noted that there ,wasia,.sligbt.increase; in the number of /animals''inspected, "such increase having •occurred in pigs and sheep. The actual number of ' animals slaughtered was 56,909,387, and' amongst the numbers passed were 32,936,000 pigs. As to the condemnations, however, it is seen that the largest proportion was amongst .sw'ihe, .chiefly owing to hog cholera and tuberculosis,;; have also been Mmpiled-showing the number of pigs .received.another stockyards in the Chicago district last year—to wit, Omaha, 2,258,620; Indianapolis, 2,099,787; St. -Paul,- 1,589,821; and Sionx City, As to such tremendous to..tals;a local critic remarks: "We are doing : very big things in the pig line, and, -what is more, we are steadily advancing on.the right lines. The pig is a":sure,'dividend-maker, and ho is easy to exploit."

Forage- plants ' that have withstood the drought; are at the present timo prized (says the Oamaru "Mail"). Among their number, the leaf beets (Beta Ciela), known here as silver agricultural beet, has withstood the dry weather. Mr. A. Kennedy, Windsor, has a : patch of extraordinary growth. He has shown tis a few stalks foul feet high, the flattened stems four inches broad, and a heavy leafage in which there is good feed. The plant i* a hardly bionnial, a native of the sea coasts of Spain and Portugal. As a garden vegetable it lias been used for many years, both leaves, and stalk making good dishes. As a forage plant it is extensively grown in many parts of New Zealand. Crimson and gold-stemmed varieties are grown as ornamental plants iu flower borders.