^3 HOW TO MAKE THE FARM PAY. 



food at regular intervals. This care and attention is never lost 

 on it. There is no other breed that enjoys better health. If 

 kept and properly cared for until twelve or fifteen months old, 

 it will yield from five to seven hundred pounds of pork. What 

 otiier animal will yield so much in so short a time, from so 

 small a beginning, with such a small outlay of capital ? 



The Berkshires are a larger breed, fatten well in propor- 

 tion to theit food, and are excellent breeders. No one can go 

 amiss in purchasing d Berkshire. The Suffolks, and the im- 

 proved Prince Albert Suffolks especially, are good. The 

 Essex, Cheshire, Leicester, and Polands are much better than 

 the " no breed." The China is fit only for crossing with some 

 of the large coarse breeds. Such a cross improves the China 

 in size and the larger breeds in quality. 



But in buying a sow or a boar for breeding, do not be satis- 

 fied with its being called a Chester, or Suffolk, or Berkshire, 

 (unless you buy of some responsible breeder,) but see for 

 yourself that the animal has the good points of the breed. 

 These points can be seen by close examination of the cuts we 

 give in this chapter from photographs of hogs owned and bred 

 by Messrs. N. P. Boyer & Co., Parkesburg, Chester County, 

 Pennsylvania. 



Breeding. The sow goes from fifteen to seventeen weeks with 

 pigs. At the end of the fourteenth week she should be watched 

 considerably, and if she appears to be suffering, restless, wander- 

 ing about collecting straw, etc., coax her into a sty by herself, 

 where you can take care of her and the pigs. This sty should 

 have cleats nailed on the sides a foot from the floor, under which 

 the pigs can escape, or else the sow may lie on them. It is not 

 best to interfere to take away the pigs unless she seems likely 

 to crush them, but it is well to be where you can watch her 

 without being seen yourself. When the farrowing is over and 



