70 SWINE 



pork hogs from a pure bred herd that have not been as 

 well selected. 



THE PURE BRED HERD. 



The Public Sale. — There are several ways by which 

 animals may be purchased for breeding purposes. The 

 public sale very often affords an excellent opportunity. 

 It is true that the best individuals at a public sale often 

 sell for such substantial prices that the average breeder 

 cannot aflford to buy them. But animals that sell for the 

 highest prices at public sales are not always the best ; in- 

 deed, frequently the best animals from the standpoint of 

 individuality except the best individuals from the best 

 herds, sell for the lowest prices, or at least very much 

 cheaper than the price at which they could be bought at 

 private sale. At a public sale animals very often sell on 

 their pedigrees, whether the individual is good or bad. It 

 is not necessarily true, and in fact is never true, that all 

 animals with good breeding are good individuals. The 

 pedigreed scrub (a pure bred inferior individual) is the 

 worst kind of scrub because, if such an animal had a long 

 line of good breeding back of him, he has many of the bad 

 characteristics of previous generations combined and 

 firmly fixed within him and is almost sure to transmit 

 such characteristics. The offspring from such pedigreed 

 scrubs will be likely to be poor individuals, even though 

 the animals have the best kind of breeding and sell at 

 high prices. Thus the public sale is more or less of an 

 uncertainty and may or may not aflford the best oppor- 

 tunity for securing herd specimens. 



Private Sale. — Another means of getting specimens for 

 a breeding herd is by private sale. The purchaser may 

 visit the breeder and secure individuals he desires, if he 



