e for bacon production, which can be brought into
condition for market in the quickest time. The introduction of these
businesslike methods has naturally resulted in greater gains, and has
further given a stimulus to the pig-raising industry.

The policy of closer settlement which is entering freely into the rural
development of the various States is furthermore causing farmers and
settlers to give more careful attention to any side industry which can
be made to return a good margin of profit on the labour expended. In
other words, the modern farmer is becoming more alive to the business
possibilities of what may be termed specialised production. It is in
this fact that the future development of the pig-raising industry
depends. A dairyman, general farmer, irrigationist, and even the
fruitgrower finds the pig of inestimable value in using up the waste
produce, and turning it into a commodity which will return high interest
in a remarkably short space of time.

This turn of events is making itself felt in other directions.
Bacon-curing establishments and co-operative factories are coming into
existence where formerly supplies would never have justified their
presence, and the result is that those who have suitable classes of pigs
to dispose of find no difficulty in turning them over at lucrative
prices.

This, however, can only be regarded as a commencement in the turn of
affairs, for with the increased demand and added facilities of
marketing, the sound establishment of the industry is each year becoming
more assured.

[Illustration: 1. A Modern Piggery.]

[Illustration: 2. Feeding pigs with corn grown on the farm.]

As an instance of the value of this side line to the settler, the
experience of a Victorian irrigated block owner, as related in the
columns of the Melbourne "Argus," is worth recording. Writing from
Rochester, Vic., the local correspondent reported as follows:--"The pig
industry is becoming of great and growing importance on our irrigation
holdings, and that settlers are recognising its great value as an
adjunct to dairying is proved by the fact that there are now on the
settlements four times as many pigs as there were a year ago. A leading
auctioneer estimates that, with improved facilities, the sales in
Rochester would in the near future amount to 1000 a month. The methods
adopted on the irrigation farm of Messrs. Jacob and Kennedy, at
Nannulla, show that pig raising is a leading factor in their