PIG BREEDING.

It is not a rash statement to say that there is no class of farm stock which receives so little attention as pigs. Almost every farmer produces pork and bacon to some extent, but the pig is not a popular animal, aud is often regarded as an evil which must be endured rather than as a fit subject for caieful or scientific treatment. Evidence of this may be seen at any of our agricultural shows, the. pig pens, being in most cases very scanjbily occupied, and really first- class animals the exception. In this respect our farmers do not copy the example of the Americans, who not only go in for pigs in immense numbers, but also -pay the utmost attention to breed. America, we believe, ia the only country whioh possesses a herd book for pigs, and when an American goes over to England to invest in this class of stock, he will only buy from breeders who can produce a well-kept record of pedigree. ' ' Mr James Howard, M.P., of Clapham Park, Bedfordshire, a prominent English breeder, has lately written a very instructive pape^ on "pigs, and experience in their breeding and management," in the coutse of which, he points out that the value of swine's flesh imported iuto Great Britain has risen from £73,475 in 1840, to £10,992,466 m 1879. The English farmers, he maintains, are very backward in their attention to this class of stock, and that the systematic improvement of sorts is very much neglected. Mr Howard considers the pig to be the most economical of all animals, as almost every particle may be utilised in some way or other, and that its fecundity and early maturity is an element of great importance in the production of the national supply of food. It ia a fact worthy of notice that the number of breeds of pigs has greatly diminished during the last thirty or forty years, while the different breeds of cattle and sheep have increased. Climate and soil have much to do with the increase of breeds of sheep and cattle, but pig 1 ? may be said to be independant of these influences, and the decrease of breeds is owing to the continual weeding out of the least profitable kinds aud the survival of the fittest. The Agricultural Societies have also helped in this direction by offering the largest premiums for pure or district races. The Berkshire and the larger white breeds, chiefly on account of their more rapid growth, have gained ground very fast of late years, and have supplanted many of the local breeds in the United Kingdom. Mr Howard says that during the last twenty years he has bred many thousands of pigs, and has tried the large, middle, and small whites, as well as the Berkshire, and lias crossed the whites with the Berkshire, and the result of his experience is that none grow so rapidly, or realise so much I money in a given time as fine pigs of the large white breed. Mr Howard does does not mean the huge, coarse sort to be found on some farms in the north of England, but the moderately large kind. This variety have good constitutions, are good breeders and mothers, and attain a great weight at an early age. Mr Howard says that he has bred many which «it ten months old have weighed 3001b, and that he has realised from the butcher, at the Smithfield .Show, 10 guineas each for pens of pigs under nine months old, and 14 guineas each under fourteen months old. While preferring the large white breed, Mr Howard is far from decrying the Berkshires. This breed does not grow so rapidly or so quckly as the large white sort, but it has the recommendation ot a good constitution, and the quality of the bacon and hams is considered first-rate. In the matter of fereoding he lays down certain distinct points, which are the result of his own extensive observation and that of the breeders with whom he has compared notes. He considers that the external structure, configuration, and outward characteristics, including locomotive peculiarities, are derived mainly from the male parent ; the female parent, on the other hand haying the strongest influence upon the internal structure and the constitution, temper and habits. If two animals are mated, the one having the greater purity of descent will have the'most influence in stamping the'character of tha progeny, particularly if the advantage of the breed ia on the male side Apart from certain disturbing influences, the nature of which Mr Howard does not explain, he finds that the male, if of pure race, and descended from a stock of uniform colour, stamps; the' colour of the offspring. As with' most other species of animals, the influence ot the first male is not frequently protracted beyond 1 - the birth of the offspring of which he is the parent, and his mark is left upon the subsequent progeny. The transmission of diseases of the vital organs is more certain, if on the side of the female, and diseases of the joints if on the side of the male parent. Mr Howard gives a number of facts in support of these conclusions, which, however, it is not necessary to quote. ! Whether these points' of breeding are open to question or fcot, they oannot fail to be of much value aa being, the opinions of an extensive and very successful breeder. - In- the choice of animals to breed from, sizehe considers to be of less consequence in the boar than the sow. As the boar mainly influences external form and locomotive organs, , great bare and attention should ' be' given 1 to these features ia the ohoice .of ,the' ( male animal. ' In both sexes those parts which produce joints of the JhieHest market value should be' among the flrst'considerations of the breeder. ,'.!<?'<> i

A' nieetifajr of thdse' 'interested in the Haniiltoh Presbyterian Church Concert is called for this evening «tt balf-past seven atijhji} tl C^S>rt« house.