no SWINE IN AMERICA 



with the milk-giving qualities, are too often underesti- 

 mated by the average breeder, who frequently pays too 

 great attention instead to beauty, refinement and show 

 appearance. A sow known to be a good suckler is of 

 double worth, or better, as compared with a scant milker. 

 Breeders have frequently noticed that a sow with poor 

 milking qualities is liable to have small litters ; on the 

 other hand, one of large milking capacity is likely to 

 have not only more pigs, but will do so much better by 

 them that they develop faster and more profitably than 

 those of smaller litters. 



Weak or sagging backs in either sows or boars are to 

 be shunned. An observant writer has said : "A weak 

 or sagged-backed hog means a poorly muscled hog (it is 

 muscle that we want in a hog), and it often means a hog 

 that has long pasterns, and is down on its legs — a hog 

 that can't handle itself and that soon gets helpless and 

 of little account. There are in general two types of the 

 weak-backed hog: The one that is high on the shoulder 

 and sags just back of it, and the one that is high on 

 the hip and slopes down to the shoulder. The latter type 

 is usually associated with short, steep hams, but the 

 former is the more objectionable since it signifies the 

 small heart girth and diminished chest capacity. Either 

 is bad enough and results from the same cause, namely, 

 poor muscles. The muscles running diagonally across 

 the ribs and vertebrae sustain and strengthen the back, 

 and where they are weak or lacking there can be no 

 strength. 



