A word of warning against this haste to get the pig into show condition. This last can only be a work of time, and the commencement of the process must be in the early stages of the life of the pig and be steadily continued until within a few days of the show. This slight reduction of the food may be necessary in the summer when the heat is great and the pigs become restless when travelling boxed up in a crate in an enclosed truck. Many of the pigs lost in travelling to or from the shows or soon after arriving at the shows, have been fed just prior to being loaded up, because of the difficulty in feeding them when on the journey. This is an entire mistake; not only should the pigs not be fed, but prior to being put into the crates they should be given just so much exercise as will cause them to evacuate the bowels, or the bladder. Care in this respect and non-exposure to the rays of the sun may not in every case prevent trouble, but it will most certainly reduce to a minimum the chance of it. Should a pig suffer from the heat, cold water should be applied to the head by means of a sponge or a cloth, and should some of the water percolate into the mouth of the pig so much the better. CHAPTER XIV PRESENT AND FUTURE PIG-KEEPING As it is impossible to foretell the effect which the present disastrous war will have upon the pig-breeding industry, we have deemed it expedient to refer as briefly as possible to the present conditions of feeding, etc., which may or may not prove to be of a temporary character or which may become permanent in a more or less modified manner. One of the results of the scarcity and high market value of the different articles which have been commonly used in the feeding of pigs is drawing greatly increased attention to the original conditions under which pigs were kept, i.e. when they were in a wild state or when they were allowed their partial freedom for the purpose of getting their own living to a greater or lesser extent. We are aware that a claim has been made by an enthusiastic convert to pig-keeping that in allowing his pigs their liberty to roam over grass fields and in woods he is practising quite a novel course of procedure, but the old hands merely smile and admire the enthusiasm which is more nearly allied with youth than old age. The practice may not have been generally followed of late years, but in the middle of the last century it was to the writer's knowledge common in certain of the Eastern Counties, particularly in Suffolk and portions of Essex and Cambridgeshire, where a considerable acreage of grass and especially clovers was grazed by pigs, having a greater or lesser quantity of other food as the pigs were intended for breeding or fattening purposes.