INTRODUCTION 



The most frequent inquiry that has 

 come to my desk each week for the last 

 several years is, "Where can I find a book 

 that contains a history of Durocs?" In 

 order to answer many of the questions that 

 arise in the mind of the student of pedi- 

 gree, and in the mind of the man who has 

 embarked into Duroc breeding with the 

 intention of mating to produce improve- 

 ment, I have written this little book. No 

 man can be a breeder of hogs and make 

 headway with his work, and make im- 

 provement in the quality and character- 

 istics of his herd animals unless he knows 

 something of the commingling of blood 

 that produced his herd headers. Only a 

 few of the questions that have come to me 

 in the recent years about the breed are an- 

 swered in this book. Much of the early 

 history of the breed and the early herds 

 has been lost for the want of a man who 

 could devote his time to gathering up the 

 widely scattered bits of information. 







