65 
Breeding of Figs. 
kept in these areas in a five years period. Set out in this 
way the figures would stand somewhat as under : — 
County , 
Single year, 1907 
Single year, 1906 
Average ot five 
years. 1902-6 
Suffolk .... 
158,101 
140.918 
1.5.5,448 
Somerset .... 
128,260 
115,933 
124,382 
Lincoln .... 
116,323 
99,752 
111.419 
W. Riding, Yorks. 
114,923 
96,937 
102,572 
Norfolk .... 
104,664 
92,593 
105.000 
Cornwall . . ^ . 
103,70# 
94,657 
97,207 
Devon 
101,054 
90,989 
101.329 
This clearly shows that Suffolk heads the list with, for this 
year, as many as 158,101 swine. Indeed, there are more pigs 
in this county alone than in the whole of Scotland, where the 
total was 147,000 in 1007, and only 130,000 in 1006. 
Suffolk not being a dairy countj^ and not having a single 
bacon curing factory of any importance this seems somewhat 
strange. It will be interesting then to find out what facilities 
this county has that so many pigs are kept in it, as should the 
same conditions exist elsewhere, one is led to the cgnclusion 
that there is no reason why a much greater number of pigs 
should not be kept in the future than in the past. 
Ipswich, the principal market town, receives considerable 
imports of maize and foreign grain, and as it is, unlike some 
ports, about twelve miles inland, a larger number of farmers 
are near enough to be able to take their feeding-stuffs direct 
from the vessels without warehouse or rail charges, which 
would not be the case if it were on the coast ; thus ci;rtailing 
the cost of these commodities. Being a Avheat growing district 
a bountiful supply of wheat straw, an essential bedding for 
little pigs, is likewise always available in Suffolk, whilst in 
an arable county like this, the dung can always be profitably 
used to enrich the soil. Another probable reason is that it 
seems to be the fashion to keep pigs in this county, at any 
rate they appear to be held here in much higher esteem than 
in the neighbouring county of Norfolk. 
Td those farmers then who are in the possession of advan- 
tages in the way of food fodder and refuse removal, and who 
have also an inclination that way, pig keeping should, as a rule, 
prove a profitable undertaking, and the writer’s own success in 
this direction allows him, perhaps, to offer the following notes 
and suggestions. 
Breeding of Pigs. 
. Before giving any suggestions as to the most suitable pigs 
to breed, it is as well perhaps to remember that the subject has 
F 
