Page:The Hog.djvu/152

150 latter many contingencies must be taken into calculation, viz., the available means of feeding them; whether or not that food might be more profitably disposed of; the facilities afforded by railways, by the vicinity of towns, or large markets, &c. for disposing of them.

And the rapid growth of railways is now affording these facilities to all parts of the United Kingdom. Formerly the inhabitants of remote localities had no means of conveying their swine to a favorable market except the tedious one of driving them, or the expensive one of conveying them in carts.

Agricultural writers seem to be very much divided in their opinion's as to the relative advantages of breeding or buying, but all allow that the keeping of swine is one of the most profitable parts of the business of a farm. Whoever determines upon breeding must make up his mind in the first place what is the shape and what the qualities he wishes to obtain, and then steadily bear this in mind as he pursues his object; not with wavering caprice, now selecting a cross of one sort, now one of another, but adhering to a system well laid down, and then he will find his efforts attended with success. The great desideratum in almost all establishments is an animal that will grow rapidly, and attain to the earliest maturity and greatest weight in the shortest period, and on the smallest and most economical amount of food.

It is a generally admitted fact in the principles of breeding, that the offspring usually inherit the bodily and constitutional qualities of one or both parents; and in swine it is the boar whose qualities chiefly predominate in the offspring; hence it will be necessary most carefully to select the male animal. Thäer, in his admirable work, says:—

"In the breeding of swine, as much as in that of any other live stock, it is important to pay great attention not only to the breed, but also to the choice of individuals. The sow should produce a great number of young ones, and she must be well fed to enable her to support them. Some sows bring forth ten, twelve or even fifteen pigs at a birth, but eight or nine is the usual number, and sows which produce fewer than this must be rejected. It is, however, probable that fecundity depends also on the boar; he should therefore be chosen from a race which multiplies quickly.

"Good one-year bacon-hogs being much in request, we must do all we can to obtain a breed well adapted for producing them. Swine of such a breed may be known by their long bodies, low bellies, and short legs. Long pendulous ears are usually coupled with these qualities, and attract purchasers. If, however, as is often advisable in large dairies and cheese factories, hogs are to be sold at