her, but in this there is little risk
providing that all those animals which show the slightest symptom of
delicacy of constitution are persistently draughted out.

It will be inferred from the above remarks that we hold to the belief
that the breeding of the boar should receive attention as well as the
following points in its form and character.

One of the most important of these points is good temper. This is a
quality not usually attributed to the pig in its wild state, and
consequently not natural to the domesticated pig, yet on the possession
of it depends to a very great extent the thrift and well doing of the
produce of the boar. The produce of an irritable boar are almost certain
to inherit this quality which is fatal to profitable fatting. In sows
this weakness is still more unfortunate, as a bad tempered sow is almost
invariably an indifferent mother. The rigid avoidance of this failing of
bad temper in a boar is advisable not only because this quality is
almost invariably hereditary, but a savage boar is a continual source of
danger to man and beast. It may be said that little trouble is likely if
the boar is kept in confinement, but there are times, such as when sows
are placed with him, when a certain amount of liberty must be given to
him, and it is generally on such occasions of excitement when the bad
temper is the most in evidence. The mere fact that irritability and
nervousness are natural to the pig should make us the more careful to
avoid any increase in the failing by using a boar which is the least
inclined to be bad tempered.

Many persons hold that in the selection of a boar one of the principal
points is size. They contend that size, in pigs especially, is
imperative if a profitable return is to be made. This view may have
arisen to a greater or lesser extent from the want of method and
observation which is characteristic of so many stock owners. The one
point which to them is of the greatest importance is the selling price
of the fat or store animal sold being fully up to the average. Little or
no thought is given to the value of the food eaten by each animal. If it
had been, very frequently it would have been found that the smaller
animal of a lot had actually given the best return for the food it had
consumed. It is not the size alone of the animal which determines its
value as the producer of meat, but more than anything it is the feeding
qualities of the animal fattened. In addition to t