THE TAMVVORTH 549 



feeding, 390.17 pounds meal were required for 100 pounds gain, 

 this being the best showing made by any breed but the Berkshire. 

 The cross-bred or grade Tamworth has considerable merit. 

 Tamworth boars on Berkshire sows are a favorite cross with 

 some feeders in England. When bacon curers complained of 

 Berkshires fattening too heavily the Tamworth cross was resorted 

 to with desirable results. Long reports that the Messrs. Mitchell 

 during two years bred and fed 300 pigs, all by Tamworth 

 boars from Berkshire and Yorkshire sows, that averaged 200 to 

 240 pounds weight at under nine months old. Tamworth boars, 



Fig. 255. A Tamworth sow, an excellent illustration of the best type of the 

 breed. Photograph from the National Stockvian and Farmer 



bred on the fat type of American sows, will produce a very 

 attractive, easy-feeding, highly-marketable porker. Used on 

 Poland-China grades considerable success may be expected. If 

 cross-bred females are used for breeding they will produce much 

 larger litters than will the American breeds. The Tamworth sire 

 is very prepotent, and reproduces his color in a marked degree. 



The fecundity of the Tamworth is a striking feature of the 

 breed. Mr. Fidgeon reports his sows generally bringing from ten 

 to fifteen pigs at a litter. It is generally conceded in Britain that 

 the Tamworth is unsurpassed for fecundity and size of litter. 

 One of the quoted objections to the breed in England was that 

 it was too prolific, the sows bringing fifty per cent too many 



