e highest esteem. In our opinion the
best, as it is in the long run the most profitable, is the pig which
furnishes to the greatest extent exactly the kind of meat in the most
general demand.

In addition to these objections to an extremely large and ungainly sow
is the fact that such an one is invariably clumsy in the breeding pen,
she is almost certain to lay on some of her pigs. It is even alleged
that her period of usefulness as a breeder is shorter than that of a sow
of ordinary size.

* * * * *

[Illustration: _Photo, Sport and General._

TAMWORTH BOAR: BISHOP OF WEBTON. Owner, C. L. Coxon. 1st and Champion,
Royal Show.

To face page 64]

* * * * *

[Illustration: _Photo, G. H. Parsons, Rostrevor._

GLOUCESTER OLD SPOT SOW. From the herd of Lord Sherbourne.

To face page 65.]

CHAPTER VII

THE SOW'S UDDER

One of the most important points in connection with the reproduction of
the species of our various domestic animals is the provision of a full
supply of milk for the young in the early portion of their existence.
Nature herself has set us a good example in a duplicated source of milk
supply even amongst animals which usually produce only one animal at a
birth. If this duplication be necessary under such conditions, it must
be imperative on us to select those sow pigs which are intended for
breeding pigs which possess a well-formed udder, having a full supply of
teats, and these of good shape and properly placed on the belly of the
sow. Not only is this necessary to ensure the rearing of a fairly
numerous litter of pigs in a satisfactory manner, but it is held that
the number of teats possessed by a sow indicates to a remarkable extent
the probable degree of prolificacy of the sow. One can readily
understand that nature would not be likely to endow a sow with the power
to produce a larger number of young at each birth than she would be able
to rear. Of course it may be said that the sow of the present day is not
as nature first made her, in that, by selection and by feeding, the
number of pigs produced at each birth is now so much larger than the
litters of the wild sows, which have some seven or eight teats and
farrow at each litter a similar number of pigs. On the other hand,
neither the number of teats nor of the young is fixed either in the
domesticated sow, or the sow in a wild state, so that by continued
selection we are