38 HARRIS OX THE PIG. 



We have kept thorough-bred boars for some years, and 

 have observed that those farmers who are liberal feeders 

 speak highly of the cross, but those who believe in starv- 

 ing their sows, and letting the little pigs get their own liv- 

 ing, assert that their pigs from a thorough-bred boar are 

 no better than those from common boars. 



The trouble is not in the thorough-bred boar, but in the 

 sows. We use the improved thorough-bred boar in order 

 to obtain pigs that will grow rapidly. But a pig cannot 

 grow rapidly unless it has a liberal supply of food. 

 It would be absurd to buy a superior mill, and then 

 condemn it because it would not make choice family 

 flour out of bran ; and it is equally absurd to expect a pig, 

 however perfect in form and fattening qualities, to make 

 flesh and fat out of air and water. 



-A sow that has been starved all her life cannot produce 

 vigorous, healthy pigs of good size, and with a tendency 

 to grow rapidly and mature early. To put such a sow to 

 an improved, thorough-bred boar, in hopes of getting good 

 pigs, is as foolish as it is to hope to raise a large crop of 

 choice wheat on wet, poor, neglected land, simply by pur- 

 chasing choice seed. There is no such easy method of 

 improving our stock. We must commence by adopting a 

 more humane system of feeding, especially while the pigs 

 are young. Then select the largest, thriftiest, and best- 

 formed sows and put them to a good thorough-bred boar. 

 Let the sow be regularly and liberally fed, without mak- 

 ing her too fat. When with young she has a natural ten- 

 dency to lay up fat, and it sometimes happens that a sow 

 gets so fat that her pigs are small, and there is considera- 

 ble danger of her lying on them. But there is far less 

 danger from having a sow fat than is generally thought. 



After she has pigged, feed the sow on warm slops, and 

 other food favorable for the production of milk. Let the 

 little ones be fed liberally, as soon as they commence to 



