PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 359 



species in one seed or animal, which are to be transmitted to the 

 offspring or products of the race or kind. This is an established 

 and incontrovertable law; and its manifestations are recognized in 

 both the animal and the vegetable kingdom. 



In reverting again to the brood of swine, the j^oorest pig, which 

 corresponds to the shrunken, half-developed nubbin of corn, or to 

 the small kernels on the tip-end of the ear of grain, lives at the rear 

 end of the udder. Pigs reared here are utterly unfit for breeders, 

 whether male or female; because they are destitute of that pro- 

 lificacy which is common to the pigs that suck the forward teats. 

 Why do many sows of choice breeds bring- forth only two or 

 three pigs at one litter, when they ought to produce as many as 

 there are teats on the udder ? And why do some sows always 

 drop as many pigs as they are able to rear? In the former 

 instance they show ill-breeding — that seed animals were selected 

 at random, without any reference to their prolificacy. In the lat- 

 ter instance we have the assurance that the dam possesses many of 

 those qualities which a skillful breeder desires to have transmitted 

 to the young stock. Let the " titman " be selected for a brood 

 sow, and choose the runt in her brood for a breeder, and let the 

 titman in the next brood be saved as a breeder, and it will be 

 found that in a short period of time there will be a wonderful 

 degeneracy, which cannot be repaired by the most judicious sys- 

 tem of breeding for a decade of years. On the contrary, select 

 the female pig that sucks the forward teat, and continue to choose 

 the "sow pig that sucketh before" for a brood animal, and every 

 year will disclose most satisfactorj^ developments in the form and 

 symmetry of the herd of swine. 



Blood will tell. We cannot transcend, nor thwart the estab- 

 lished and unalterable laws of the animal kingdom. In the pio-s 

 that are reared at the forward end of the udder, is concentrated a 

 greater degree of prolificacy, and greater power to transmit more 

 of the excellent points which constitute the perfect animal, than 

 can be found in any other pigs in the brood. And these are the 

 only ones that ever should be saved as breeders, whether mule or 

 female. The second or third pig from the front, may to appear- 

 ance, be quite as beautiful, thrifty, and make as heavy an animal, 

 when slaughtered, and perhaps heavier; but such swine are not 

 the right ones to select as breeders. It is not the most beautiful 

 animals that can be relied on as breeders; but the ones that will 

 transmit the greatest number of excellent points of desirable form 



