296 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



breeds were in the hands of conservative men. The boofia had not struck 

 these breeds at this time. The red hog in particular was at this time, 

 in Iowa at least, in the hands of conservative and constructive breeders. 

 Such as Chas. H. Holmes, Uncle William Roberts, N. P. Clark, Andy 

 Failor and a few of the old guard, whose honor and integrity had not 

 been and never was questioned. Farmers quit buying Poland Chinas to 

 a great extent and went over very largely to the red camp, some buy- 

 ing the Whites, it is true, and all was well for several years. But the 

 speculator, having seen his opportunity to duplicate the follies of some 

 of the Poland China crowd, began to get in his work, until auction prices 

 for red hogs have apparently also gone the limit. With fabulous prices 

 naturally come fads. Certain family strains for some unknown cause 

 assumed very valuable proportions, in fact a corner was sought to be es- 

 tablished, and breeders went wild over certain families of the same 

 breed until they were boomed and made very fashionable. Indeed, some 

 of them became so fashionable that the various scrubs of the royal family 

 brought ten times as much money at auction as a really meritorious 

 animal would sell for that did not happen to belong to that particular 

 aristocratic family. In fact it is not uncommon to see at some of these 

 auction sales of the different breeds absolute nondescripts called "brood 

 sows," bred to Buddy Somebody or Col. Nobody, or some other very prom- 

 inent boar, sell at prices ranging from $150 to $300, when no experienced 

 level headed breeder but what knows full well that such a sow could not 

 produce a decent litter from any living boar that would be a credit to 

 the breed. 



Quite recently I was on an Iowa farm and inspected about 100 head 

 of swine. I cannot consistently give them any other name. They were 

 a mixture of Poland China, Duroc Jersey and Hampshire. I will say, how- 

 ever, that breeders of any of these three distinct breeds would have been 

 shamed to have admitted that any of the blood of their favorite breed 

 was here represented. 



Only about six weeks ago I was on the farm of a well known Iowa 

 cattle breeder, and there witnessed a sight I shall never forget — it was 

 something like 125 head of, well, I will say, just hogs — produced by three 

 crosses of Tamworth boars on Duroc Jersey sows to commence with. 

 I innocently asked the man what he was trying to do and what he hoped 

 to accomplish by this manner of breeding. His answer was that he 

 thought they were more prolific bred in this manner. I could not refrain 

 from saying to him that I thought that at the present rate of deteriora- 

 tion, that about one more cross of the present kind and he would produce 

 a crop of snakes. 



I speak of these two breeders, or farmers, to show that both had become 

 discouraged with the sort of pure bred boars that they had been securing 

 from the breeders. Of course in this sort of procedure they were making 

 the fatal mistake of crossing the breeds until nondescripts was the result. 



What all of the breeds need most to put them back in favor with the 

 Iowa farmer (and he is the real backbone of the business) is for more 

 men to engage in breeding a good, useful, practical hog, well suited to the 

 farmer's needs, breed him free from fads and isms of all kinds, and less 



