chapter rr. 
BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT. 
y ■ v . ■ ... .• 
IMPORTANCE OP SWINE A BACK WOODS HOG. FIXING AND HOLDING TilH 
CHARACTERISTICS. SELECTION ALWAYS IMPORTANT. BREEDING AGE OP 
SWINE. CARE OP BREEDING SOWS. WEANING. MANAGEMENT OP 
SWINE. ABSOLUTE CLEANLINESS NECESSARY. SUMMARY, 
. 
Importance of Swine. 
The breeding and management of swine constitutes one of the most 
important agricultural interests in the West, and should do so in the 
South. To be successful none but the best breeds should bo allowed on 
the farm. The fecundity of swine leaves no excuse for holding on to 
land pikes and the descendants of semi-wild breeds that must be run 
down by dog and rifle, in order, when they are killed to get a small 
quantity of inferior meat. A boar of any of the improved breeds will 
be sufficient for six or eight sows, and the increase is so astonishing when 
there is no epidemic disease, that it would from a single pair take but 
three years to stock the largest farm. It should be unnecessary to pursue 
this matter further. There is no class of farm stock that pays better, aa 
between indifferent and good breeds, than hogs, and the wonder is that in 
some sections of the country farmers still cling to a breed of gruntera 
that will always greet you with a snort and a boh-o-o, and which nc 
feeding can fill — in fact animals like those shown on the following page— 
fully a match for the average dog, always hungry, ready to eat anything 
that falls in their way, even to half grown children- occasionally, but 
which when wanted for meat are nowhere within shooting distance. 
362 
j. .. : ' . • * .• • ^ 
■ : ... - • 1/ 
