0,000,000 hogs sent to American slaughterhouses in the
course of one year to supply our foreign trade with pork product. The
United Kingdom is by far our best customer, although we export liberal
quantities to Belgium, Holland, Germany, France, Canada, Brazil, Central
America and the West Indies. Total value of our 1899 exports of pork
product was $116,000,000.

[Illustration: FIG. 34. WILTSHIRE CUT BACON.]

The enormous business of the big packing houses, located chiefly in the
west, with a few in the east, can scarcely be comprehended in its extent.
Chicago continues to hold the prestige of the largest packing center in
the world, but other western cities are crowding it. In 1891 Chicago
received 8,600,000 hogs, the largest on record, most of which were packed
in that city, and the product shipped all over the world. In recent years
the Chicago receipts have averaged smaller, but the proportion going to
the packing concerns remains about the same. It is estimated that the hogs
received at that city in 1898 had a value of $84,000,000.

CO-OPERATIVE CURING HOUSES IN DENMARK.

About half the pork exported to England from Denmark is cured by the
co-operative curing houses, established first in 1888 and since that date
greatly increased in number. Enormous quantities of cheap Black Sea barley
have been brought into Denmark the last few years, used principally for
fodder. The principal advantage of the co-operative system, doing away
with the middleman, applies to these establishments. Farmers who raise
hogs in a given district of say ten to twenty miles' circumference, unite
and furnish the money necessary for the construction and operation of the
co-operative curing establishment. The farmers bind themselves to deliver
all hogs that they raise to the curing house, and severe fines are
collected when animals are sold elsewhere. At every curing house there is
a shop for the sale of sausage, fat, etc., these as a rule paying well and
forming an important part of the profits in this co-operation.

HOG PRICES AT CHICAGO, PER 100 POUNDS.

Heavy packing, Mixed packing, Light bacon.
Year. 260 to 450 lbs. 200 to 250 lbs. 150 to 200 lbs.

1899 $3.10@4.75 $3.50@5.00 $3.75@5.00
1898 3.25@4.80 3.30@4.75 3.00@4.65
1897 3.00@4.50 3.20@4.60 3.20@4.65
1896 2.40@4.45 2.75@4.45 2.80@4.45