THE HOH. 
209 
But what is meant by form, as applied to the pig? A development 
of those points connected with the profit of the owner. In these points 
high or low blood is demonstrated. The head should be small, high at 
the forehead, short and sharp in the snout, with eyes animated and lively, 
and thin, sharp, upright ears ; the jowl, or cheek, should be deep and full ; 
the neck should be thick and deep, arch gracefully from the back of the 
head, and merge gradually into a broad breast; the shoulders should be 
set well apart at the clavicular joint; the body should be deep, round, 
well-barreled, with an ample chest, broad loins, and a straight, flat, 
broad back; the tail should be slender; the hams should be round, full, 
and well developed ; the limbs fine-boned, with clean, small joints ; and 
with small, compact hoofs, set closely together, with a straight bearing 
upon the ground. If in perfect health, the animal will be lively, ani- 
mated, hold up his head, and move freely and nimbly. We do not" speak 
ot tat hogs, for they are necessarily sluggish and unwieldy ; nor yet of 
pregnant sows ; but of young store-hogs, or of young stock selected for 
breeding. 
The skin should be soft and thin, of a bright pink color; the neck 
short, the chest wide (which denotes strength" of constitution) ; broad, 
straight back, short head, and fine snout, slightly curved upward ; and 
in the large breed there is often a pretty prominent swelling on the 
snout, between the nasal and frontal bones. The legs and hoofs should 
be small. The sows should have at least twelve teats. In purchasing a 
prize animal, whether boar or sow, see that it can walk well. A lump 
of fat bacon may do to kill at Christmas, but will be of very little use 
until reduced to breed from ; and in the journey and reduction you may 
lose your pig and your money. 
For breeding sucking-pigs there is nothing better than the large Eng- 
lish breed (they are prolific, and good mothers), crossed with "a white 
Chinese boar. No other breed will raise sucking-pigs to the same size 
as this cross; they also form excellent porkers, speedily attaining from 
forty-eight to fifty-six pounds ; but if required to be much larger, it 
will be found to pay better to treat them as stores, letting them graze, 
or run as “shocks’’ in the field after harvest, or rooting on the manure- 
heap, until they are ten or twelve months old, and then put them up to 
fatten. Still they are not so profitable as the improved Essex, and do 
not make such fine bacon as the improved Berkshire. 
The improved Essex, if well fed from the first, arrives very early at. 
maturity, as to its frame or bony structure, and is the best for making 
hobbledehoys of porkers from eighteen to twenty pounds’ weight. 
The improved Berkshire may be considered the more useful to a 
farmer who desires a sort useful in every stage of its growth. The Berk- 
shire sow will suckle ten or a dozen sucking-pigs — even more if assisted 
by artificial means — and is very superior for large ham and bacon. The 
small breed is very well for porkers, but not for the flitch. A good 
little animal is good ; but we want a good and big animal. The im- 
proved Berkshire realizes this desideratum, as it realizes the highest 
price from the bacon-curers, cuts up wide over the back, well interlarded 
with fat and lean. It is also more free from lameness than any other 
breed. 
