22 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 



parts and unnecessary activity. Such a coarse, restless 

 animal would gain, in flesh and fat, in proportion to the 

 food consumed, only half as fast as the quiet, refined 

 animal. 



A little calculation will show this to be true in theory, 

 as it is undoubtedly true in practice. Thus take two pigs. 

 No. 1 eats 100 Ibs. of corn, 75 Ibs. of which are required 

 to sustain the vital functions. He gains, say 20 Ibs. 



No. 2, a coarse, restless pig, eats 100 Ibs. of corn, 87 

 Ibs. of which are necessary to support the vital functions. 



No. 1 has 25 Ibs. of food over and above the amount 

 required to sustain the vital functions, and gains 20 Ibs. of 

 pork. No. 2 has only 12J Ibs., and consequently, cannot 

 produce more than 10 Ibs. 



To assume that a rough, coarse, savage, ill-bred, squeal- 

 ing, mongrel hog will require only one-sixth more food to 

 "run his machinery," than a quiet, refined, well-bred 

 Berkshire, Essex or Suffolk pig will not be considered ex- 

 travagant ; and yet it undoubtedly follows that, for the 

 food consumed, the quiet pig will gain in flesh and fat 

 twice as fast as the other. If in addition to this he will 

 eat 25per cent more food, he will gain four times as fast. 



The two great aims of every pig breeder should be to 

 lessen the demands on the stomach for offal or least valu- 

 able parts, and for unnecessary activity on the one hand, 

 and on the other to increase the power of the stomach, 

 and digestive and assimilative organs as much as possible. 



CHAPTER V. 



LARGE vs. SMALL BREEDS AND CROSSES. 



Mr. Lawes' experiments on the different breeds of sheep, 

 prove conclusively that well-bred mutton sheep of the same 

 age, consume food in almost exact proportion to their size 



