210 IOWA DlilPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



and too hard work, but the man I bought the pigs of said if I had not 

 done well by the end of the season he would make me a present of a pair 

 of nice pigs. Next season I had sold my pigs for $10 apiece and had 

 enough money to pay out. There was a good deal of difference in the pigs 

 then. Some of them were nice little fellows and some big, coarse fellows. 

 Look back at the records and you find Berkshires, Chinas, Polands and 

 the big white Irish Grazers. It was these crosses that made up the Poland 

 China. The little chubby fellow came from the Chinas and the sandy 

 spots and the black came from the Berkshires and the white from the 

 other. 



At the fairs they aimed to have breeders for judges. The breeder was 

 much more of a success than the college professor. I see it every time 

 at the State Fair. The Expert Judge Association and its standard brings 

 up the nice type that we have been talking about. A judge well posted 

 in the score card will probably give the size a little more weight than 

 the score card does. The score card is much better now than when it 

 first came out. The size is all right, if you can get the quality. 



I like to have my litters average about eight or ten pigs, and from 

 six to seven well raised is worth more than eight or ten; and eight, I 

 think, is of more benefit to the majority of farmers than ten and twelve. 

 Not many sows can raise more than eight pigs. The majority of farmers 

 and breeders can not put every sow by herself and take care of her as she 

 should be to raise large litters. There is not much difference between 

 the size of the litters now and when I began. There has been a great 

 improvement made from weeding out the cross sows and those not inclined 

 to be good mothers. And I think the line breeding has been a great help, 

 too. You get more of the same type of an animal in line breeding. I 

 think it makes a more uniform type of animal and that is what makes 

 them look nice — all the same build, color and type, and brings the best 

 price on the market. The change of color has not as much to do as other 

 conditions. Some of the hogs with spots are nearly as good as the black 

 hog. The black hogs have a- better and nicer coat than five or ten years 

 ago because they are breeding them up to that. Old Tom Corwin II. had 

 a nice black, soft coat. He grew to be a good, long, smooth-coated fellow, 

 and that is where they got the start. Tom Corwin II. was the first to get 

 nice ears and nice finish. I bought old Black U. S. on order. I had never 

 seen him but had read a good bit, and I thought I could see that the 

 people that raised the Tecumseh hog had to have a good cross, and I 

 thought it was the time to start in. When I went to Ohio I did not find 

 hogs that looked as good as those at home. The herds looked inferior to 

 me and were away back of ours out here. Those Ohio breeders let all 

 their best stuff go at that time. One Price, King Corwin, Black U. S. and 

 Ideal Black U. S., and they began to see where they had missed it. I 

 went back to Ohio and bought a One Price pig. It seemed like I was pay- 

 ing a good price, but I figured it out that if I could bring him back and 

 win at tlie Fair it would be worth a hundred dollars right there. Indiana 

 and Ohio are nothing to compare with Iowa in the hog business, and it is 

 the same way with Illinois. 



