CHAPTER II. 

 SIZE, PROLIFICACY AND QUALITY. 



Three of the most important considerations from the 

 farmer's or economical standpoint that should be duly 

 considered, are first, size; second, prolificacy, and third, 

 quality. The size of a hog is a point that very often is 

 not given due consideration. In general the hog market 

 pays a premium for hogs that weigh from 175 to 300 

 pounds. With this in view, it very often is said that it is 

 not necessary to have animals in the breeding herd that 

 weigh 600, 700, or even 900 pounds. This, however, is 

 a very superficial viewpoint. 



SIZE AND AGE OF HOGS. 



Cut No. 3 on the next page was made up from the aver- 

 age of a large number of comparatively short feeding 

 trials compiled by Henry, plus the assumption that the 

 pig comes to maturity at 18 months of age. This is not 

 the same as it would be from one continuous test. How- 

 ever, it affords a nice illustration. The vertical lines rep- 

 resent the age of the pig by months from 1 to 18 inclusive, 

 as shown at the top. The horizontal lines of Fig. 1 rep- 

 resent pounds as indicated by the figures at the right; 

 the base line is zero, the second line is 100 pounds, the 

 third line is 200 pounds, the fourth line 300 pounds, and 

 the upper line 400 pounds. The shaded area is supposed 

 to represent the live weight of the pig. 



Rate of Growth. It will be seen from the illustration 

 that the pig does not make very rapid progress in live 



