SEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VI. 207 



pig and took it to St. Louis, where he won a ribbon on it. I was put on 

 as judge at the Iowa State Fair at Keolvuk, about 1877, and then I began 

 to learn more about the pigs. Then I think another place where I made 

 as much improvement as anywhere was watching the papers, and when 

 Tom Corwin II. came out I watched that type of hog. He had good style 

 and finish, was not so coarse. And then I let the coarse, rough fellows go 

 and took more to the medium sized hog. There was more improvement 

 between the time of Tom Corwin II. and Ideal Black U. S. than in any 

 other period. After Tom Corwin II. came in old U. S. and so on down 

 to King Corwin. I don't know why they don't advertise families of sows, 

 but I think that comes in because as a rule we aim to get our sows as 

 near all of one type whether they belong to the same family or not. "We 

 do not want one sow with a fine bone and then a big coarse one. I 

 watched that pretty closely and no one that followed that course got along 

 very well. They used to bring them to the fair with the ears away over 

 the eyes so you could not drive them anywhere. Old Dr. Grimmel brought 

 them down. I watched that style of hog of Tom Corwin II. and old U. S. 

 and then listened to the Ohio breeders when they came to our fairs in the 

 early day, and that is where I kept getting my information. The most 

 important point is to watch and pick your good male pig. A few dollars 

 on a good male pig is nothing. A good male pig is half your herd and you 

 want to see to that. The type of hog the public demands is the kind of hog 

 you want. If you watch that and tend to it you will climb up the ladder 

 all the time. Western judges go too much by the coarseness which the 

 pork packers don't demand. We have to come down just the same as in 

 cattle. Nice, blocky, compact steers bring the most money in the market, 

 and I think it is the same with a hog. You take the early maturing animal 

 and you can feed them up most any time and it is always ready for mar- 

 ket. When cholera comes along, put them on the market and they will 

 sell. If you have the coarse, lean sort you can't sell them. A good foot 

 means a good hard bone. If you get a pig that stands straight on his toes 

 and with the legs, as we say, on the corners, you will have a wide body 

 and a good hog. There has been a big improvement in feet since 1886. 

 That was when Iowa Champion came out. T. H. Reveal taught me that 

 lesson. We were looking around over the pigs an(3 I asked him to show me 

 the best hog. He got into the pen and pressed the dew claws close to the 

 leg to see if the pastern was short, saying if the pastern was short it 

 would be a good foot. When you have a good foot you always have strong 

 bone and good shape. I picked up all these little things at the State Fairs. 

 I always made it a point whenever there was a new family of hogs coming 

 out that looked like it was reasonable that it would get to the front, to 

 buy some of that stock before it got clear out of reason. Black U. S. 

 was popular because he was more of the medium type and not so big and 

 coarse, and the Black U. S. family had better feet and legs as a rule. I 

 bought him and brought him here just to make that change and it did a lot 

 of good to get him. It put better feet and legs on the pigs, gave a little 

 more finish than the other big, coarse animals I had, and it made a great 

 improvement. The people were looking after that kind and that was the 

 kind to get. I could sell a Black U. S. for $50 easier than an ordinary 



