18 



HAEEIS ON THE PIG. 



This form also affords abundant room for the lungs, 

 stomach, and intestines ; and it is on the capacity of 

 these organs to convert a large amount of comparatively 

 cheap food into a large quantity of flesh and fat that de- 

 termines the value of the animal 



We annex a portrait of a tolerably well-formed pig, 

 with lines showing how to apply the test above alluded 



to. The nearer he 

 will fill the rectangu- 

 lar frame, the nearer 

 he approaches to 

 perfection of form. 

 It would be well, for 

 lr farmers to place a 

 straight cane along 

 the back, also along 



Fig. 1.-TESTINC, THE *OEM O* A PI O . ^ ^^ shoul( J ers 



and hams of their pigs, and see how near they come up to 

 the desired standard. 



The length of a pig should bear a certain proportion to 

 his breadth. Many farmers object to the improved breeds, 

 because they are too short. In point of fact, however, 

 they are often longer than their ill-bred favorites. They 

 appear short, because they are so broad. A large-boned 

 hog is longer than one having small bones. There are as 

 many vertebrae in the shortest Suffolk as in the longest 

 Yorkshire. 



A fine-boned pig cannot be long-bodied. It may ap- 

 pear long, but this will usually be because it is narrow. 

 Breadth and depth are of far greater importance than 

 length. Robert Bakewell, the originator of the improved 

 Leicester sheep, and one of the most skillful and expe- 

 rienced breeders in the world, is said to have formed a 

 breed of pigs that, when fat, were "nearly equal in 

 height, length, and thickness, their bellies almost touching 

 the ground, the eyes being deep set and sunk from fat, 



