The Large White Yorkshire Pig. 41 



a form to which they were most probably predisposed fi-om 

 having to travel far, and to labour haid for their food. There 

 are good grounds for supposing that this was the only pig that 

 inhabited all the counties of England centuries ago. Different 

 methods have produced the various breeds, for instance it 

 appears from what records we have that in the South of 

 England the Chinese pig was imported, and the cross with the 

 native pig, amongst others, produced the Hampshire, and there 

 are other similar cases ; but the authorities seem generally to 

 agree that the Large White Yorkshire breed is descended 

 practically uncrossed from the native pig. 



Shelter and ample supplies of nutritious food have done 

 their share in the past, but one of the greatest factors in fixing 

 and improving the breeds has been the Yorkshiie and Lanca- 

 shire Agricultural Societies during the last century. Pig racing, 

 as pig showing was known nearly a century ago in the North 

 of England, was a very solemn institution, and we are told the 

 vast majority of the rustics never got beyond the pigs and the 

 poultrj\ Hunters were a drag in their eyes, and Booth and 

 Bates cows were wholly lost to them. It is difficult to estimate 

 the good these local shows have done for pig breeding, a hobby 

 that appears to have applied particularly to the inhabitants of 

 the densely populated industrial districts of these counties ; 

 every village had its little event, and there was scarcely 

 a town without a pig and poultry show at which valuable 

 pi'izes were offered for pigs the property of working men. At 

 the Keighley Show, for instance, 30?. was given for prizes in 

 the pig classes, and for this forty or fifty pigs, of al)out 300?. 

 in value, would compete. The pride in their breed is a])parent 

 when any of the pedigrees kept by the Yorkshire pig fanciers 

 of those days, many of which are in existence, are examined, 

 for they generally end with "by Yorkshire man." 



The only cross that authoi-ities seem generally to agree as 

 having been used to improve the Yorkshire pig was the Leicester, 

 which they say was improved by Bakewell on the same lines on 

 which he improved his long-horned cattle and Leicester sheep. 

 This, however, does not seem likely, as Bakewell's pigs were 

 black. However, we find in the Smithfield Clul) records that 

 Mr. Williams' improved Leicesters, which were white pigs, won 

 the Gold Medal in 1854. 



It may safely be assumed, therefore, that the Large White 

 Yorkshire ])ig is at all events the nearest related to the original 

 native breed ; any crosses that may have been introduced from 

 other counties, such as Leicestershire, probably originated from 

 the same native stock. In speaking of the Yorkshire pig, the 

 Large Cumberland, which was practically the same animal, is 

 of ooursf included. 



