rely
free from the spirit of gambling and this enters into all competitions,
particularly in the show yards. The winning of prizes with stock may not
be quite so uncertain as the winning of horse races, still, there is
enough of uncertainty to render the judging ring a centre of great
excitement. Some persons will even contend that the showing of farm
stock is not desirable on the part of young farmers as it is likely to
assume so great a similarity with gambling, that attending the shows
means a neglect of business and leads to expensive habits. On the other
hand, it cannot be denied that the exhibition of our improved specimens
of stock has been of untold benefit to both home and foreign stock
breeders. Further, the exportation of our pedigree stock has actually
saved us from semi-starvation during this most fearful of all wars, as
without our improved stock the native stock of foreign countries could
not possibly have furnished the enormous quantities of meat which we
have had to import.

It may be that a great many exhibitors of stock had little or no
intention of becoming one when they first purchased their stock, but on
these proving quite the equal of that possessed by their neighbour, the
desire grew to suggest how good they were, or in many instances the
original entries have been made in response to a request to support the
local show.

This may be still another cause for a beginner in stock breeding
exercising extreme care in the selection of his original stock. Even if
the prime cost be higher than that of ordinary market stock the extra
outlay expended on animals from well-known breeders, and out of old
established herds, is certain to prove a good investment. There is just
as great difference in the different families or strains of our domestic
stock, as there is in the various human families and of animals, and it
may be probably more true that the vast majority of the best of them are
the descendants of a comparatively few ancestors. This is evident in
almost everyone of the breeds of our improved stock, it is so in
thoroughbred and shire horses, and so one might go through the whole
list of domesticated or farm animals.

It is therefore desirable that anyone who thinks of exhibiting his pigs
should endeavour first to discover the particular tribes or families
which, in the past, have furnished a large proportion of the winners,
and then to obtain some of the specimens of those families which have
be