SWINE AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 939 



not be kept with little trouble for years. Never allow him to 

 be taken out of the pen, and when turning sows to him have 

 him safely secured in his sleeping apartment, and after the sow 

 is in the lot and shut in, let the boar out. If managed in this 

 way he can usually be kept quiet and gentle. If the first lit- 

 ters show the boar to be one of superior excellence as a pig- 

 getter, it becomes a matter of importance to so manage him that 

 he can be kept for years. One service to a sow is as good as a 

 half-dozen, and I would advise that the sow be removed as soon 

 as served. 



In choosing the sow for breeding, we want a roomy, rather 

 than compact animal, as she is to give character to the internal 

 organs rather than the form of her offspring. She should be a 

 good suckler, and if possible selected from a family noted for 

 fertility and motherly qualities. When you find a sow that 

 possesses in a large degree these valuable qualities, it will pay 

 to keep her for years, and no reasonable sum should induce the 

 owner to part with her. I am decidedly in favor of mature 

 sows for breeders. The pigs will be more numerous, larger, and 

 of better constitution, and the mothers will be less likely to 

 overlay or otherwise destroy the pigs. As I look back over an 

 experience of thirty-five years, I find that my losses of young 

 pigs have been three times as great when I have used young 

 sows for breeders as they have been when I have used those 

 which were mature. 



When young sows are used for breeding, I would not couple 

 before January, so that the pigs would not come till warm 

 weather and some green food could be had, and I would not 

 breed these sows again for a fall litter. The period of gesta- 

 tion with the hog is one hundred and twelve days, and I think 

 they vary from the regular time less than most domestic ani- 

 mals. I have already spoken of the importance of keeping a 

 record of the time of coupling, and in making the entry it is 

 best to count up the time when the one hundred and twelve 

 days will be out. Your entry for a sow bred December 20th 

 would read as follows : 



" Black sow Bess, bred December 20th ; pigs due April llth." 



