4 HAEKIS OX THE PIG. 



and he will be likely to study the principles of breeding 

 with an interest he has never felt before. The introduc- 

 tion of a thorough-bred boar will lead to the introduction 

 of a thorough-bred ram and a thorough-bred bull of a good 

 breed, and this, in conjunction with cleaner culture and a 

 more liberal feeding, is all that is needed to give us better 

 and cheaper meat ; and at the same time we shall make 

 more and richer manure, and be enabled to grow larger 

 and far more profitable crops of grain. 



I believe I was the first writer who contended that, 

 other things being equal, it was desirable to get animals 

 that would eat, digest and assimilate a large amount of 

 food. In the following pages I have endeavored to give 

 some reasons for this opinion and have cited some experi- 

 ments that confirm it. If true of pigs, it is equally true 

 of cattle and sheep. If generally admitted, it will lead to 

 a more liberal system of feeding and to the production of 

 more and far better meat. 



It may be thought that I should have said more in re- 

 gard to the different breeds of pigs in the United States. 

 There is in almost every section a class of useful pigs of 

 more or less local reputation ; but it is doubtful if they 

 have been kept pure for a sufficient length of time to war- 

 rant us in speaking of them as established breeds. And 

 even if this were the case, I know of none of them that 

 possesses the smallness of offal, perfection of form, early 

 maturity, and fattening qualities of the Yorkshire, Essex 

 or Berkshire. There is none of them that would not be 

 improved in these respects by crossing with a thorough- 

 bred boar of either of these breeds. 



Of the diseases of pigs I have said little, for the simple 

 reason that I know little in regard to them. Cleanliness 

 and good treatment are the best medicines for a pig. 

 Anatomically, a pig approximates more closely to a man, 

 than any other of our domestic animals, and if we know 

 how to treat a cold or a diarrhoea in ourselves, we shall 



