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SWINE— DISEASES AND REMEDIES. 



should be firm, but springy, the thin- 

 nest skin springing most; the shoulders, 

 sides and hams should be deep perpen- 

 dicularly, and in a straight line from 

 shoulder to ham; the closing behind 

 filled up ; the legs short and bones small; 

 the neck short, thick and deep; the 

 cheeks round aad filled out; the face 

 straight, nose fine, eyes bright, ears 

 pricked, and the head small in proportion 

 to the body ; a curled tail is indicative of 

 a strong back. 



SWINE, Breeds and Breeding— There 

 are several good breeds which lay claim 

 to public favor — none of which are 

 free from defects, or which embody all 

 the points a of good hog — the Berkshire 

 has retained the good opinion of the pub- 

 lic longer than any other breed, and the 

 improved Berkshire is probably our best 

 breed. The Berkshire was first obtained 

 by crossing the Neapolitan with one of 

 the large English breeds. The Neapoli- 

 tan is a descendant of the improved Roman 

 hog, probably from their best, a proof of the 

 skill of that ancient people in that di- 

 rection. 



Most of the improved English breeds 

 were obtained by a cross of the large 

 and rather coarse English hog with the 

 fine and delicate Chinese. The Suffolk 

 is the result of one of those crosses, and 

 is esteemed the best breed in England. 

 It is of fair size, and retains in a remark- 

 able degree the fine fattening qualities of 

 its China parent. 



The pure Suffolk is almost destitute of 

 hair, a very serious defect under our 

 scorching sun and dry and hot climate; it 

 is rather tender for our western treatment, 

 but in fattening, gives a good return for 

 all the food consumed, 



There are several American breeds that 

 have attracted attention, as the Ma- 

 gee hog in Ohio and the Chester White 

 from Pennsylvania, both good hogs, but 

 as yet hardly entitled to be called distinct 

 breeds. It requires a long continued 

 breeding in one direction, with careful 

 and judicious selection, to form a distinct 

 breed, so that all the pigs will be of uni- 

 form character, size and form ; till fully 

 established, there is a tendency to breed 

 back generally to the most defective pro- 

 genitor, and till that tendency is over- 

 come, the certainty of reproduction in 

 its perfection cannot be relied on. 



The Chester White, when distinctly es- 

 tablished, will be as most of the breeds 

 are now, valuable hogs, the square and 

 deep form, stout and erect legs, broad 

 and short head, quiet disposition, good 

 fattening qualities, and heavy weight, form 

 a combination of good qualities that can 

 hardly be surpassed. 



Although our best breeds of hogs were 

 obtained by judicious crossing, and our 

 future successful efforts will be perfected 

 in the same way, yet the indiscriminate 

 crossing practiced by our farmers cannot 

 be too strongly condemned. There seems 

 to be a mania for mixing all breeds, while 

 the aim should be to preserve each breed 

 distinct and pure. We often see litters of 

 pigs with no two alike, but each is a rep- 

 resentation of some one of the eight or 

 ten breeds whose blood is mingled in the 

 genealogical compound. We once made 

 a cross of the Irish Grazier, a large, slow, 

 maturing hog, with the Berkshire, and 

 then crossed that sow with the Suffolk — 

 and the product were three distinct 

 breeds from the same litter — first, a fine 

 delicate pig that would fatten at any age; 

 second, a medium-sized hog that would 

 fatten at twelve to eighteen months ; and 

 third, a Grazier hog, that would weigh 

 from five to seven hundred, but must be 

 two or two and a half years old before 

 they would lay on fat. Preserve the 

 breed pure and distinct, should be the 

 rule. 



Both parents should be at least one 

 year old before being allowed to breed, 

 and if the female should be kept till five 

 or six years for that purpose it would ma- 

 terially improve the size and vigor of the 

 pigs; while breeding from young sows, 

 deteriorates both size and vigor. The 

 period of gestation with the sow is about 

 sixteen weeks, or 1 1 2 days ; during this 

 period the sow should never be closely 

 confined, but should have ample room 

 for exercise, with free access to water; 

 the food should be generous, but not too 

 heavy and heating — such as will insure 

 the most perfect health. 



The best season for sows to farrow is 

 April, or early in May ; an April pig is 

 worth one-third more than a July pig, 

 and more than double a September pig. 

 Some breeds can be fattened at any age, 

 but none will fatten as well at one year 

 or much as at 15 to j 8 months; any hog 



