MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 281 



THE HOG. 

 BY MORSE AV. JONES, OF RICHLAND. 



The hog holds the same place among food animals that cotton has done 

 among products of tlie soil. The pork product exported in 1878, amounted to 

 887,000,000, against §57,000,000 for all other animal products. Of the §87,- 

 000,000 (round numbers) §52,000,000 was for bacon and ham exports, and 

 §30,000,000 for lard, so that §82,000,000 of the whole was for the manufac- 

 tured article; thus giving a great impulse, not only to our farmers, but to the 

 mammoth packing establishments and the cities, in the growth of which farm- 

 ers are interested. At the commencement of 1879 there were 35,000,000 

 swine in the country, of an estimated price of §3.18 each. Had each of these 

 35,000,000 hogs been increased 50 pounds in weight by producers crossing 

 them with some thoroughbred, the country would have reaped an immense 

 profit. Even half that increase at four cents per pound would amount to 

 §35,000,000. Only recently the j^eople of this country attempted to found a 

 great political party on the cry of saving only one-third of that amount by 

 the issue of fiat money. 



ORIGIN AND lilPROVEilENT OF HOGS. 



Starting with the original wild hog of the forest, all domestic swine are de- 

 scended from two families, Su6- scrofus and Siis indicus, the swine of early 

 England coming from the former, the wild boar of whose ferocity and strength 

 we read with a shudder. The old England hog was big-eared, coarse-haired, 

 head large, tusks strong, snout rough and angular, but it was a great improve- 

 ment on the wild hog. From the Sus indicus family came the Chinese and 

 Siamese breeds, from which our modern breeds have taken valuable qualities. 

 Early English breeders made some progress by careful selections. The first 

 improvement was in the introduction of the highly refined Chinese which were 

 found too tender for profitable raising and abandoned as a pure breed, but 

 crossed with the large coarse native stock. The Live Stock Journal says : 



"The distinguising characteristic of the Chinese hog is the facility with 

 which he converts everything into fat. From the time he is a week old until 

 the day of his death, the Chinese pig or hog is fat. If kept in the same pen 

 with others, and the feed be barely sufiicient to sustain life in them, the Chi- 

 nese pig is fat." 



This is easily accounted for as the pig is well cared for, usually being fat- 

 tened while a pig, for a roaster. Its shape has kept its type since our first 

 knowledge of domestic animals; the body long and round; the back swaying 

 in the center till the belly almost touches the ground; head, ear, and limb all 

 fine; jowls heavy, face wide; neck short and high in the chin; color white, or, 

 in the Siamese, black. The introduction of these pigs from China and Siam 

 notes the beginning of valuable improvement in swine. 



The improved Berkshire is among the earliest and best known of these Chi- 

 nese-Englisli breeds. The old Berkshire county hogs had maintained a high 

 reputation for centuries. They were described as "long and crooked snouted, 

 the muzzle turning upwards; the ears large, heavy, and pendulous; the body 

 long and thick but not deep, the legs short, the bones large, and the size very 

 great." "Hogs of the pure, original breed," says one writer, " have been 

 Icnown to attain an immense size. One bred at Petwortli measured seven feet 



