302 



The JoiRNAL OF Heredity 



•VIRGINIA," A SAPPHIRE SOW 



This animal, bred by the New England Live Stock Company of Peabody, Mass., weighed 408 

 pounds at 11 months. She is an excellent specimen of a new breed in the making. As 

 Mr. McLean explains, this breed is made by selection from a mixture of Yorkshires, Hamp- 

 shires, Berkshires, Essex and Chester Whites, and is now breeding fairly true, although the 

 breeder finds it difficult to eliminate the white markings. (Fig. 8.) 



became the only possible line of farm 

 endeavor. A swill contract from a 

 ncij^hboring town gave a large supply 

 of feed, so that this hog industry 

 received a marked impetus. Within a 

 couijle of years, the man was well and 

 fovmd himself with a large hog business 

 on his hands. He still retains his law 

 ■office in Boston, but contrary to the 

 usual practice, he finds time to visit that 

 •office only on Saturdays. 



Almost from the very first Mr. 

 'Griffith had the distinct purpose of 

 evolving a new breed of swine. In his 

 first coui)le of years' work, with many 

 hogs of all kinds, he saw many defects 

 which helped to evolve the tyjje of his 

 new l^reed. Weak backs, pendulous 

 bellies, broken down ]xistcrns, heavy 

 •cars, were defects commcjn and serious. 

 The new breed should have none of 

 these undesirable traits. Then, too, 

 the color must Vjc distinctive. Black, 

 red, white — this had been the entire 

 spectrum of hog shades. The new 



breed must have a new color, and Mr. 

 Griffith chose blue from the very start, 

 and without knowledge of the blue 

 grays of the Shorthoni-Galloway cross. 

 Lastly came the matter of head. The 

 erect, trim ear of the Berkshire pleased, 

 — but not the pug nose; long snouts 

 were too often associated with narrow 

 bodies, and narrowness between the 

 eyes; while lopjjing ears obstructed the 

 sight, which is surely not desirable. 

 Thus has evolved briefly the conception 

 of the type. The hogs of this breed 

 shall be blue. They shall have trim 

 bellies and be a trifle more ujjstanding 

 than the average run of fat hogs; they 

 shall have distinctly the fat hog form 

 associated with excellent length of 

 body; they shall have excellent strength 

 of bone and be free from broken down 

 pasterns; they shall mature earlier than 

 any other breed of swine; they shall 

 have erect, fine, rather small ears. The 

 line from the i)oll to the end of the no.se 

 shall be medium short and the forehead 



