THE BERKSHIRE PIG. 451 



is to dispose of their animals in this way, as they generally 

 make remunerative prices. It is of course well worth the extra 

 money to obtain animals that possess the qualities produced by 

 careful cultivation ; but it is generally a mistake to buy those 

 animals that have been forced forward for exhibition, as they 

 often breed badly and are delicate. The object of exhibiting is 

 to show the public what the sort can do ; and it would be better 

 if animals shown in breeding classes which have been unduly 

 forced were consigned at once to the shambles. 



We believe one reason for the diflSculty of maintaining a 

 breed for long up to the mark is that too close breeding is 

 often pursued. Within certain limits we obtain remarkable 

 specimens from in-and-in breeding, and this is easily explained : 

 If we have brought our stock up to a standard at which we 

 wish to keep them, it may be wise to put them together, in 

 order to solidify as it were the good points they possess ; but 

 this must be done with judgment, and the produce must be 

 crossed with a fresh strain of blood, otherwise they lose hair, 

 which means constitution, become small and weak, and are 

 subject to the loss of their tails. Moreover, Mr. Finlay Dun 

 tells us that it is to this cause he attributes many of the 

 diseases to which pigs are liable. He says, in reference to 

 pigs," in his " Essay on the Hereditary Diseases of Sheep and 

 Pigs," published in the 16th vol. of " Royal Agricultural Society 

 of England's Journal : " — " This practice is often pushed to an 

 excessive and injudicious extent in these animals ; and from 

 their coming early to maturity, and producing a numerous pro- 

 geny at one birth, it causes in them a marked deterioration in a 

 comparatively short space of time. In several cases which have 

 come under our observation, it has induced total ruin of the 

 entire stock. At first it merely rendered the animals somewhat 

 smaller and finer than they were before, and improved rather 

 than injured their fattening properties. Very soon, however, it 

 caused a marked diminution in size and vigour, and engendered 

 a disposition to various forms of scrofulous disease and rickets, 

 pulmonary consumption, &c. Many of the boars became sterile, 

 and the sows barren, or liable to abortion. In every succeeding 

 litter the pigs became fewer and fewer in number, and more 

 and more delicate and difficult to rear. Many were born dead, 



