THE SAPPHIRE HOG 



A New Breed in Process of Formation — Origin a Mixture, Selection the Method 



of Procedure — Approximation to Type Already Secured, and Large 



Percentage of Pigs Breeding True. 



J. A. McLean 

 Head of Department of Animal Husbandry, Massachusetts Agricultural College, 



Amherst, Mass. 



WE are rather loth to believe 

 that there can be anything 

 new under the sun. Especi- 

 ally is this true with live 

 stock. Old things with valuable char- 

 acteristics may be discovered in un- 

 frequented comers of the earth and 

 introduced, or new features not hitherto 

 found in a particular breed may be 

 embodied in its requirements. But live 

 stock men, both breeders and teachers, 

 have generally not advocated the crea- 

 tion of new types but have emphasized 

 improvement of old stocks. 



In plant breeding, hybridization has 

 been one of the fruitful methods of pro- 

 ducing new varieties, and plant breeders 

 generally have not been slow to make 

 use of this method of advancement. Is 

 it not possible that animal breeders 

 have worshipped pedigree too long and 

 faithfully? Why might it not be pos- 

 sible, for instance, to combine the good 

 qualities of the two breeds, Holsteins 

 and Guernseys, and from them evolve a 

 new breed distinctly superior to either? 

 When we go back over the history of 

 our breeds of horses, we find that each 

 is of a more or less conglomerate origin ; 

 some of these breeds today permit to a 

 certain extent, if they do not encoiu"age, 

 the introduction of outside blood. In 

 most of oiu* breeds of cattle the same 

 conditions are found, as to origin. 

 Crossbreeding, it is generally conceded, 

 gives a greater vigor, a more rapid 

 growth and consequently distinct market 

 advantages . B y careful selection , might 



not these features be retained in the 

 succeeding generations from these hy- 

 brids ? These are a few of the questions 

 which demand a fair answer. Some 

 experiment stations have undertaken to 

 solve the many problems of this char- 

 acter, while a considerable number of 

 breeders are also delving for the truth 

 along these lines; and now one of the 

 latter is coming to the surface with a 

 so-called new breed of hogs.^ Time will 

 reveal the true merit of this breed. In 

 the meantime, let us see what we can 

 see. 



THE ORIGIN OF A GENETIST. 



About eight years ago, George C. 

 Griffith, lawyer, Harvard graduate and 

 younger scion of a Virginian family, was 

 given but one more year's lease on life. 

 He was enjoying his tenantry and, 

 disliking very much to quit it so soon, 

 he undertook to disappoint the prog- 

 nostications of his medical servants. He 

 bought a couple of New England stone 

 piles with a very narrow valley and a 

 stream between. He liked solitude, so 

 he selected his hills three miles from 

 town and well away from the main 

 roads. Here he built a bungalow of 

 most simple structure about the size of 

 a box car, well up on the highest hill, 

 from whose glass front he coiild see the 

 mighty ocean. Here he began to win 

 back life. 



Since little of the land was arable, 

 dairy cattle were scarcely feasible; 

 poultry he disliked, and sheep were 

 impracticable, so that swine production 



^The breed was at first known as the Blue Hog. Mr. Griffith sent out an appeal far and wide 

 for suggestions as to a permanent name, and that finally chosen was the idea of August Belmont 

 of New York, himself a highly successful breeder as well as financier. The color, as livestock men 

 will understand, is in fact a roan; the description of "blue-jay blue," which has been given in 

 periodical literature, must be taken only as a figure of speech. 



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