ENGLISH EXPERIENCE IX PIG FEEDING. 183 



sides making a vast amount of manure, which he consid- 

 ered far better than guano, because more durable. 



" The plan which he adopted in breeding was, to put 

 the sows to the boar in November, and pick the breeders 

 principally from the earliest pigs, when he got his stock 

 up to about forty breeding sows. In picking the breed- 

 ers, he used to pick them several times over, as it fre- 

 quently happened that those which looked the best and 

 prettiest when young, altered considerably when they 

 got three, four, and five months old. The rule was to 

 pick long-growing pigs, and those that were straight and 

 thick through the shoulder and heart, and experience had 

 convinced him that his method of choosing was a correct 

 one. He always kept to the Tarn worth breeds, generally 

 purchasing the boars, but breeding the sows. If he found 

 the pigs getting too fine, he purchased a good strong 

 boar, and if the animals exhibited tendencies the other 

 way, he picked a boar of good, small bone, but was al- 

 ways particular to select a boar that was thick through 

 the shoulder and heart, and a straight-growing pig, of the 

 same color and breed. By carefully following this plan, 

 he got the breed so good, that it was a rare occurrence to 

 see even a middling pig in all the herd, though he bred 

 from 250 to 300 each year. His plan of keeping was as 

 follows : As soon as the sows littered, they were kept 

 on kibbled [crushed] oats, scalded, with raw Swedes or 

 cabbage; and when the pigs got to the age of three 

 weeks or a month, he turned the sows out from them for 

 a short time every day, and gave the pigs a few peas or 

 Indian corn while the sow was away. When the weather 

 was fine and warm, the pigs went out with the mother 

 into a grassy field for a short time. He found that young 

 pigs, from the age of three weeks, required dirt or grit ; 

 and, therefore, if the weather was bad, and they could 

 not be turned out, it was necessary to put some grit into 

 the sty. This was quite important, as he believed it was 



