John Hammond 389 



In the second series — Carcase Classes — wliicli were started in 1903, a 

 record is kept not only of the live weight and age of the pig but also the 

 weights of the carcase and pkick after the animal had been killed. Tliis 

 series is divided only into classes for pigs of different weights; in some 

 cases in addition there being an age limit as well. Each entry consists of 

 a single pig only. The entries for this series are very small compared with 

 the number of exhibits in the live classes especially in view of the fact 

 that the carcase test is the ultimate object for which the pigs were 

 bred. 



The weights of the animals and carcases have been carefully taken by 

 the officials of the Club under the supervision of the Stewards. For the 

 details of the methods of slaughter and dressing of the carcases I am 

 indebted to jVIr Charles Bone who has been responsible for these and who 

 has kindly furnished me with information on these points. 



Neither in the Live Classes nor in the Carcase Classes is there any 

 specification of sex. Henry (9) found that boar pigs weighed slightly more 

 than sows, but Danish (lO) experiments have shown very little difference 

 between the sexes. 



The details given in the records of the Show have been treated 

 statistically so as to give information on the points it was desired to 

 investigate. Weights throughout have been given in lbs. and decimals 

 of a pound, and ages in months and weeks. 



As the single pig classes would naturally attract the exceptional 

 animals it was thought better to keep them separate. The fact that in 

 the porker classes the weight was limited but not the age was not con- 

 sidered to be of sufficient importance to warrant separate treatment and 

 they have been grouped by their age; breeds maturing early would be 

 exhibited in this class at a younger age than those of the late maturing 

 breeds. 



In order to avoid confusion when discussing the results of the in- 

 vestigation below, the following account gives the methods by which the 

 various tables in the text have been compiled. 



Table I has been prepared from the records of the Show direct. As 

 each pen consists of two pigs the total has been halved to obtain the 

 weight of individual pigs. The divisions into age groups correspond more 

 or less with classes at the Show, the bulk of the porkers falling into the 

 "under 3 months" and "3-5 months" groups wliile the majority of the 

 classes "not exceeding 9 months" and "not exceeding 12 months" fall 

 into the groups " 8-9 months " and " 10-12 months " respectively. A few 

 of the former constitute part of the " 6-7 months " group. The single pig 



26—2 



