[Illustration: FIG. 255. WHICH WILL YOU RAISE?]
Man captured some of these wild animals, fed them abundant and nutritious food, accustomed them to domestic life, selected the best of them to raise from, and in the course of generations developed our present breeds of hogs. The main changes brought about in hogs were these: the legs became shorter, the snout and neck likewise shortened, the shoulders and hams increased their power to take on flesh, and the frame was strengthened to carry the added burden of flesh. As the animal grew heavier it roamed less widely, and as it grew accustomed to man its temper became less fierce.
[Illustration: FIG. 256. A PAIR OF PORKERS]
Meat can be more cheaply obtained from hogs than from any other animal. When a hog is properly fed and cared for it will make the farmer more money in proportion to cost than any other animal on the farm.
The most profitable type of hog has short legs, small bones, straight back and under line, heavy hams, small well-dished head, and heavy shoulders. The scrub and "razorback" hogs are very unprofitable, and require an undue amount of food to produce a pound of gain. It requires two years to get the scrub to weigh what a well-bred pig will weigh when nine months old. Scrub hogs can be quickly changed in form and type by the use of a pure-bred sire.
A boy whose parents were too poor to send him to college once decided to make his own money and get an education. He bought a sow and began to raise pigs. He earned the food for the mother and her pigs. His hogs increased so rapidly that he had to work hard to keep them in food. By saving the money he received from the sale of his hogs he had enough to keep him two years in college. Suppose you try his plan, and let the hog show you how fast it can make money.
We have several breeds of swine. The important ones are:
1. Chester White. 2. Improved Yorkshire. 3. Tamworth.
1. Berkshire. 2. Poland-China. 3. Duroc-Jersey. 4. Cheshire.
1. Victoria. 2. Suffolk. 3. Essex. 4. Small Yorkshire.
Hogs will be most successfully raised when kept as little as possible in pens. They like the fields and the pasture grass, the open air and the sunshine. Almost any kind of food can be given them. Unlike other stock, they will devour greedily and tirelessly the richest feeding-stuffs.