a CHAPTER XXIX. 
SUGGESTIONS TO BEGINNERS. 
Starting in Business.—One of the most common mistakes 
for a beginner to make is to be too ambitious, and to make his 
start on too large a scale. As a result, he is liable to meet with 
some rather scrious losses and to become discouraged. Perhaps 
the safest way to start is to buy one or two voung sows safely in 
pig to a good boar. It costs more money to start this way than 
to buy newly weaned pigs, but this disadvantage is more than 
compensated by the fact that a person is able to make a much 
more intelligent selection by buving a more fully developed 
animal than he could make if he bought his sow very young. In 
addition to this advantage, he has a shorter time to wait for 
returns. He is also save the necessity of immediately buying 
a boar, if there is not a good one in the near neighborhood, and 
need not tie up capital in a boar until he has had some money 
returns from his venture, provided, of course, that he cares to 
sell some of his voung pigs at an early age. (Sce “ Selection of 
the Sow,” pp. 37 and 38.) 
Breed to Select.— .\s to the bree: to sclect, each man must. 
be his own judge. Nearly any of our well-known breeds will 
give good results if intelligently handled. Generally speaking, 
however, it is safer for a beginner to select a breed which is 
popular in his own neighborhood. By doing so, he has a better 
chance to make new selections for his herd, and will find it 
easier to sell brecding stock in his own neighborhood in the face 
of competition, than to do missionary work for a new breed, 
which, after all his efforts, may fail to win popularity in his 
district. This paragraph applies only to the man who wishes 
(262) 
