44 SOUTHERN PORK PRODUCTION 



ties. The excess of fat seems to crowd the embryos, 

 possibly pressing against certain blood vessels and 

 nerves, thereby cutting off a part of the nutrition and 

 limiting the reproductive functions. In addition to this, 

 very fat animals do not, as a rule, take sufficient exercise 

 to guarantee the most healthy condition. This applies 

 to the overfed boar as well as to the sow. In the boar 

 the factors of proper nutrition and blood supply to the 

 reproductive organs may also play an important role. 



Sterility, or barrenness. — Many of our high-bred swine 

 are barren, or sterile. This is a matter of vital importance 

 to the breeder. It is not a trouble confined solely to one 

 sex. In the female it may be due to failure of develop- 

 ment of the ova, to diseased organs, fatty degeneration, 

 contraction of the cervix of the uterus, to acid discharge 

 in vagina, weakness of the germ cells after conception, 

 lack of exercise, and to other ph^rsiological abnormalities. 

 In the male, many of these same or paralleled conditions 

 prevail to cause sterility. Where the trouble is due to 

 faulty management, it is the best plan to see that the 

 affected animals are allowed ample exercise, that they 

 are kept healthy and in good breeding condition, but not 

 too fat, and that the sexual functions are not overworked. 



Number of pigs to litter. — The question of the possible 

 number of pigs to the litter, the most desirable number 

 to have, and the wa3's of influencing the numbers of pigs 

 in litters have attracted some attention from breeders. 

 In numbers, it is possible for sows to have all the way 

 from 1 to 24. The latter figure is the number of pigs 

 farrowed at one time by one of the early sows in the 

 history of the Poland-China breed. This litter was far- 

 rowed in the herd of Chas. Hankinson, in Warren County, 



