Carver Count Poland Chinas. 133 



milk-giving, high in per cent of superior lean meat, 

 possibly more resistant to cholera than the average, and 

 with such facts properly attested in statistical pedi- 

 grees, would have a gold mine. The breeders of pure- 

 bred Poland-Chinas everywhere would be in a line to 

 pay good prices for males and females. To carry this 

 idea further, let us suppose that in Carver county, Min- 

 nesota, such an association were formed. Let this be 

 done under co-operation with the State experiment sta- 

 tion, 40 miles distant. Let there be an organization of 

 farmers similar to those mentioned in previous articles 

 for breeding cattle. In order that the type sought shall 

 become clearly fixed in the minds of breeders let in- 

 vestigations at the experiment stations on the relative 

 percentage of lean meat and also on the relative fecun- 

 dity and the relative milk-giving capacity of sows be 

 continued. Let the breeders' association and the ex- 

 periment station join in deciding upon the character- 

 istics desired in the proposed new family of hogs. Let 

 the association and the station each appoint a man, the 

 two men to act together as a purchasing committee. 

 Let this committee by correspondence and travel review 

 the available facts concerning all the best families of 

 Poland-China hogs in America. There might be pur- 

 chased for each of say 20 members of the association 

 10 sows and one boar, or 200 sows and 20 boars. All 

 members should arrange to have their sows farrow at 

 about the same time, so that the pigs may be properly 

 compared. When the pigs are four months old part of 

 each litter could be properly marked and sent to the 

 experiment station or to some central point in the coun- 

 ty and fed under the direction of the station or other 

 officials. For this purpose, after discarding any ab- 

 normally poor pigs, the litter could be divided. The 

 best could be retained for breeders and the remainder 

 sent to the trials. The results of the feeding tests of 

 the two, three or four from each litter could thus be 

 averaged and used as the "centgener" or family rec- 

 ords of the two parents. The tests could include ft 



