I chose to keep thoroughbred swine for the reason that all the standard varieties are reasonably certain to breed true to a type which, in each breed, is as near pork-making perfection as the widest experience can make it.  Most of our good hogs are bred from English or Chinese stock.  Modifications by climate, care, crossing, and wise selection have procured a number of excellent varieties, which are distinct enough to warrant separate names, but which are nearly equal as pork-makers.

In color one could choose between black, black and white, and white and red.  I wanted white swine; not because they are better than swine of other colors, for I do not think they are, but for aesthetic reasons.  My poultry was to be white, and white predominated in my cows; why should not my swine be white also,—­or as white as their habits would permit?  I am told on all sides that the black hog is the hardiest, that it fattens easier, and that for these reasons it is a better all-round hog.  This may be true, but I am content with my white ones.  When some neighbor takes a better bunch of hogs to market, or gets a better price for them, than I do, I may be persuaded to think as he talks.  Thus far I have sold close to the top of the market, and my hogs are never left over.

Perhaps my hogs eat more than those of my neighbors.  I hope they do, for they weigh more, on a “weight for age” scale, and I do not think they are “air crammed,” for “you cannot fatten capons so.”  I am more than satisfied with my Chester Whites.  They have given me a fine profit each year, and I should be ungrateful if I did not speak them fair.

I wished to get the hog industry started on a liberal scale, and scoured the country, by letter, for the necessary animals.  I found it difficult to get just what I wanted.  Perhaps I wanted too much.  This is what I asked for:  A registered young sow due to farrow her second litter in March or April.  By dint of much correspondence and a considerable outlay of money, I finally secured nineteen animals that answered the requirements.  I got them in twos and threes from scattered sources, and they cost an average price of $31 per head delivered at Four Oaks.  A young boar, bred in the purple, cost $27.  My foundation herd of Chester Whites thus cost me $614,—­too much for an economical start; but, again, I was in a hurry.

The hogs began to arrive in February, and were put into temporary quarters pending the building of the house for the brood sows, which house must now be described.

It was a low building, 150 by 30 feet, divided by a six-foot alley-way into halves, each 150 by 12 feet.  Each of these halves was again divided into fifteen pens 10 by 12 feet, with a 10 by 30 run for each pen.  This was the general plan for the brood-house for thirty sows.  At the east end of this house was a room 15 by 30 feet for cooking food and storing supplies for a few days.  The building was of wood with plank floors.  It stands there yet, and has answered its purpose; but it was never quite satisfactory.  I wanted cement floors and a more sightly building.  I shall probably replace it next year.  When it was built the weather was unfavorable for laying cement, and I did not wish to wait for a more clement season.  The house and the fences for the runs cost $2100.