McLean: The Sapphire Hog 



303 



high; the top of the neck shall be 

 slightly arched. They shall breed true 

 to these characteristics. This, if you 

 please, has been Mr. Griffith's con- 

 ception of the breed before ever the 

 Sapphire Hog was. 



THE MEASURE OF SUCCESS. 



To what extent has he succeeded? 

 First let it be stated that the work is 

 still in progress; none realizes better 

 than the workman that his work is not 

 complete. Yet he feels that much has 

 been accomplished and that the end is 

 in sight. There are now seven hundred 

 Sapphire Hogs on his farm. He sells 

 practically none of these, with certain 

 exceptions. This gives him a large 

 ■choice in selection of both sows and 

 boars for breeding purposes. In these 

 the color is variable, although the blue 

 predominates. In a great many of 

 these sapphires there is a white belt of 

 variable width just back of the shoulder 

 similar to that in the Hampshire. This 

 white belt is accompanied by white on 

 the belly, white nose and face, and white 

 feet. Many lack the white belt but 

 have the other white markings, while 

 still others have blue body, legs and 

 feet, but are lighter colored about the 

 snout. The blue color seems to advance 

 by degrees and the hardest white 

 marking to eliminate is that of the 

 snout, and next, that of the feet, and 

 next to that the "Hampshire belt" and 

 white belly. But there were a large 

 number of "all blue" pigs, though 

 generally with them the face was a 

 trifle lighter in shade and in the fore- 

 head invariably there was a slightly 

 darker spot. The shades of blue vary 

 from quite light to almost black. This 

 is due to the proportion of white to 

 black hairs, for the blue color is due to 

 the free intermixture over all parts of 

 the body of black and white hairs. 

 There is no shading of the individual 

 hairs. The skin is pigmented wherever 

 the roaning occurs, but is not as fully 

 pigmented as is that of a pure black hog. 



Several peculiar patterns occur in the 

 uniformly blue pigs. There are some 

 pigs which have a mackerel pattern in 

 the blue, due to areas containing a 

 larger proportion of black hairs. These 



present very much the same marbled 

 appearance that is seen in some gray- 

 colored cats. There are quite a few 

 pigs that have distinct dark stripes 

 about half an inch wide running length- 

 wise of the body, and from one to two 

 inches apart. In some these stripes 

 persist through life. 



SOURCE OF THE NEW BREED. 



The source from which this new breed 

 is being evolved is conglomerate. York- 

 shires medium and large, Hampshires, 

 Berkshires, Essex, and Chester Whites 

 have been freely used; Tam worth and 

 Poland Chinas have not been used, 

 though it is probable that some Duroc 

 Jersey blood was mingled in the earliest 

 crossing; but the pure black, the pure 

 white, or the black and white breeds 

 have been distinctly the basic stock. 

 Pigs of good individuality have always 

 been selected and while money has 

 never been thrown away in high 

 prices, yet it has never been withheld 

 when a desirable hog for breeding 

 purposes was found. 



The first departure towards the blue 

 color occurred about five years ago. 

 This was a white sow with a very slight 

 tendency to roaning upon her sides. 

 Necessarily in the selection for color at 

 first, some leniency in regard to other 

 characters had to be exercised, but now 

 only uniformly colored boars are used 

 that have a good percentage of the 

 other characters demanded. In the 

 boars, the type of head, the strength 

 of bone, the color and the conforma- 

 tion are all insisted upon. In the 

 mature sows more variation still exists. 

 One sees the old fashioned Berkshire 

 snout and lop ear, and the white belt 

 and other white markings quite gen- 

 erally. 



There are a good many litters upon 

 the place that are all blue, though they 

 vary in the shading. A sapphire boar 

 from sapphire dam and sire was mated 

 to twenty-seven sows of other breeding 

 carrying no sapphire tendency. Thirty 

 per cent, of the offspring were sapphire 

 and the highest per cent, in any one 

 litter was 40. 



It is to be expected that vigor and 

 early maturity will appear in these 



