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, young store hogs, or young stock selected for breeding, will be lively, animated, hold up the head, and move freely and nimbly.
"Bristles.—These should be fine and scanty, so as to show the skin smooth and glossy; coarse, wiry, rough bristles usually accompany heavy bones, large spreading hoofs, and flapping ears, and thus become one of the indications of a thick skinned and low breed.
"Color.—Different breeds of high excellence have their own colors: white, black, parti-coloured, black and white, sandy, mottled with large marks of black, are the most prevalent. A black skin, with short scanty bristles, and small stature, demonstrate the prevalence of the Neapolitan strain, or the black Chinese, or perhaps an admixture of both. Many prefer white; and in sucking pigs destined for the table, and for porkers, this color has its advantages, and the skin looks more attractive; nevertheless, we think that the skin of black hogs is in general thinner than that of white hogs, and less subject to eruptive diseases."—Martin.
TREATMENT OF SOWS DURING PREGNANCY.
Sows with pig should be well and judiciously fed; that is to say, they should have a sufficiency of wholesome nutritious food to maintain their strength and keep them in good condition, but should by no means be allowed to get fat, as when they are in high condition the dangers of parturition are enhanced, the animal is more awkward and liable to smother or crush her young, and besides, never has as much or as good milk as a leaner sow. She should also have a separate sty: for swine are prone to lie so close together, that if she were amongst others her young would be in great danger; and this sty should be perfectly clean and comfortably littered, but not so thickly as to admit of the young being able to bury themselves in the straw.
As the time of her farrowing approaches she should be well supplied with food, especially if she be a young sow, and this is her first litter, and also carefully watched in order to prevent her from devouring the after-birth, and thus engendering a morbid appetite which will next lead her to fall upon her own young. A sow that has once done this is never afterwards to be depended upon. Hunger, thirst, or irritation of any kind, will often induce this unnatural conduct; and this is another reason why a sow about to farrow should have a sty to herself, and be carefully attended to, and have all her wants supplied.
