V.)'2'2. | The Lincolnshire Curiy Coated Pig. 353 



from old and matured pigs which was neither so delicate in 

 flavour nor so tender as is the most highly priced bacon of to-day. 

 It has, however, the desired qualities of satisfying at little cost 

 the appetites of the men and of enabling them to perform their 

 somewhat arduous duties on the farm, or in other words, the 

 Lincolnshire Curly Coated pig has been most successfully bred 

 to meet the requirements of the farmer. It fulfils in the most 

 complete manner its duty of supplying at a fair cost a large 

 carcass of fat pork within a reasonable time. Indeed we think 

 that its breeders are justified in making the claim that no other 

 breed is more suitable, if so suitable, for the special purpose for 

 which the curly coated pig is mainly kept. 



It might not be so great a favourite when transported from 

 its native county to the southern portion of this country, but 

 there can be no doubt that a considerable proportion of the 

 common country pigs would be more readily fattened and at less 

 cost did they possess an infusion of the blood of the curly 

 coated pig. 



The vast improvement in the Lincolnshire pig which lias taken 

 place during the last half-century may have had its influence 

 on the system of pig keeping in the county. In the olden time 

 the fatted pig would be a year and a half to two years old and 

 not infrequently it would also be a young sow which had reared 

 one litter of pigs, as the far too common practice was to utilize 

 the extended growing period of the female pig by breeding a 

 litter from the young sow and then fattening her. The quality 

 of the resultant pork would suffer somewhat, but this was not 

 considered to be of any great importance owing to the absence 

 of fastidiousness of taste in the general consumer. The farmer, 

 however, handicapped himself very considerably in the improve- 

 ment of his pig-breeding stock, as by fattening off the young sow 

 after she had reared one litter of pigs, it was impossible to make 

 a selection of the sows which were the best producers of large 

 litters of those pigs which would grow and mature most quickly. 

 A permanent and considerable improvement in any breed of 

 live stock can only be assured by the continuous selection of 

 those sires and dams whose produce most nearly approaches the 

 standard of excellence of the breed. We believe also that the 

 system of mating a young boar with gilts, then castrating and 

 fattening the hoar as soon as the gilts are in pig, lias ceased bo 

 be followed to so great an extent as in former times. It is to be 

 hoped that still further improvement may soon be carried out 



