Rearing and Fattening of Pigs. 



5 



to breed pigs for fatting on one's own farm, the advantage 

 of using the compact, good quality boar will be enormously 

 increased : the pigs will fatten much more readily — indeed, 

 at any period of their existence — and on a considerably smaller 

 quantity of food, while the value per stone of the pork will 

 be decidedly higher. There never was a period when quality 

 of meat was more considered by the consumer and, of necessity, 

 by the purveyor of meat. This point has not hitherto received 

 so much attention from pig-breeders as it deserves, and one 

 might almost include breeders of all kinds of domesticated 

 animals intended for human food. Farmers have been 

 inclined to believe that the consumer will be content 

 with that which is placed before him, provided that it is home 

 produce. This is a mistake ; the public care just as little 

 whence comes their daily bread and meat as does the farmer 

 care who manufactures the implements with which he tills 

 his farm. Every careful tradesman takes infinite pains to 

 discover the wants and fancies of the public and does his best 

 to satisfy those wants, but in too many instances farmers have 

 not adopted this common-sense system, at least with regard 

 to pig feeding, &c. 



In the good old times of the long-ago, before the Danes, the 

 Canadians, and, indeed, the inhabitants of most countries, applied 

 themselves to furnishing the necessaries and luxuries demanded 

 by the somewhat fanciful and extravagant English public, the 

 latter were compelled to make the best of home farm-produce ; 

 now, however, the highest prices and the keenest demand, espe- 

 cially in slack markets, fall to those articles which are presented in 

 the best form, and of the size, quality and character which most 

 nearly meet the wishes of the consuming classes. In other words, 

 to rear pigs with a certainty of success, we must have quality in 

 the parents. The chief object in selecting a boar must, there- 

 fore, be to select such an animal as will more probably beget the 

 kind of pig which is most readily and at the highest price sold 

 to the buyer. If, as nearly every enlightened breeder declares, 

 the boar is to be of a pure breed, there is plenty of choice, 

 both as to size and colour, for the purchaser. There is the 

 Berkshire, black in colour, with so-called white points, the 

 Large Black, the Tamworth and the Large and the Middle 



