246 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



produce the best average results. I have followed this 

 practice myself, and will give you the results of my experi- 

 ence. 



My first boar was an Essex, and his pigs were most satis- 

 factory, maturing early, docile and easily fattened. At the 

 bench, in cutting up, I found the strips for the barrel of fine 

 quality and very thick ; but the belly stock, which I put into 

 bacon, was heavy and too fat. The hams were very large 

 and the fresh meat a little dark. 



My next purchase was a Yorkshire boar, and I was much 

 pleased with the results ; pigs were most easily kept and 

 always fat. I obtained the whitest and best loins and 

 spare-ribs for the market, a firm and thin-rind pork for salt- 

 ing down, but a beliy strip that was just the reverse of the 

 Essex grades, — too light and thin. 



My next boar was a Berkshire, and, with the exception 

 of the bacon and hams, which were almost perfect, I found 

 these pigs did not fatten as easily and were inclined to be 

 restless. 



After many experiments, I should select to-day for my 

 special business strong, hearty, grade Yorkshire sows and 

 cross with the Berkshire boar, or the reverse, when they are 

 almost sure to be white. 



Pigs, like all domestic animals, require plenty of good 

 feed, fed regularly, clean quarters and proper care. With- 

 out either one of these requirements, no matter how good 

 stock a farmer may have to begin with, he will not be suc- 

 cessful and his stock will soon begin to deteriorate. No 

 other animals require greater skill in in-and-in breeding 

 than pigs, and for the ordinary farmer fresh blood every few 

 years is indispensable. 



Nothing should be bred under a year old, and experience 

 has taught me that a well-shaped sow that throws large 

 litters and is a good mother can be kept to advantage eight 

 or nine years. 1 he flow of milk increases up to four years, 

 and will hold as long as she continues to be a good feeder. 



There is, perhaps, more skill in feeding swine than any of 

 our domestic animals, and I have frcqu< ntly found that one 

 man would make pigs thrive on a certain amount of feed, 

 on which with another they would hardly hold their own. 



