BREEDS OF PIGS Itf THE UNITED STATES. 108 



rapidly without food ; and the more thoroughly the 

 power to grow rapidly has become established by long 

 and careful breeding, the less capable does the pig be- 

 come to stand starvation. It may sometimes be necessary 

 to starve a pig for a short time when it has become too 

 fat. In this case the pig gets food from its own fat and 

 flesh, and sustains no permanent injury. But to starve a 

 young, growing pig, is always injurious and the more 

 rapidly the pig is designed to grow, the more detrimental 

 and permanent will be the effects of such treatment. The 

 handsomest lot of white pigs we have ever raised, were 

 from a sow got by a thorough-bred Earl of Sefton (York- 

 shire) boar. She was a very large sow, and not coarse for 

 her size. This sow we put to a thorough-bred highly re- 

 fined Prince Albert Suffolk, and had a litter of " beauties." 

 There was not a poor pig among them, and they were so 

 uniform that it was difficult to tell one from another. The 

 sow had been liberally fed, and at the time of pigging 

 was very fat, and we continued to feed her and the little 

 ones all they would eat. The result was a lot of pigs 

 that we have never seen excelled. Encouraged by this 

 result, we purchased from a neighbor, at an extra price, 

 a litter of pigs got by the same thorough-bred boar, and 

 at the same time another litter of common pigs from an- 

 other neighbor. Both litters ran together, and had the 

 same food and treatment, and the common pigs did better 

 than the grade Suffolks. 



The grade Suffolks were, in fact, decidedly poor pigs 

 a very different lot from the pigs from our own sow, got 

 by the same boar. One cause of the difference must 

 probably be assigned to the fact that the sow was not as 

 large or as good as ours, and was not as well fed. And 

 another reason for the difference was, the pigs, for the first 

 two months, had not had all the food they were capable 

 of eating. They never recovered from this neglect, and 

 the common pigs were a stronger, more vigorous and 



