MODERN FAIUIIER. 461 



Stock, the Berkshire breeders have made a very ju- 

 dicious use of the pug-cross, by not repeating it to 

 the degree of taking away all shape and power of 

 growing flesh, in their stock ; and he is informed 

 they now mean to discontinue any farther mixture. 

 The breed, as it now stands, is about in the third 

 class in point of size, excellent in all respects, but 

 particularly as a cross for heavy slow-feeding sorts. 

 The small porking variety of Berks, and those of 

 Oxfordshire, with round carcases, short and hand- 

 some heads, appear to him to have descended 

 from the Axford breed. On the whole, it is an 

 useful breed, that has extended itself from the 

 district from which it takes its name over most 

 parts of the island. It is the sort mostly fiittened at 

 the distilleries : it feeds to a great weight, and is 

 ^^ood for either pork or bacon. This sort is sup- 

 posed by many as the most hardy, both in respect 

 to their nature, and the food on which they are fed. 

 The Berkshire is, however, a sort of hog that re- 

 quires constant good keep, declining fast under 

 other circumstances. 



8. The Hampshire Sreed. 



, This is a kind of large hogs which is longer in the 

 body and neck, but not of so compact a form as the 

 Berkshire : they are mostly of a white colour, or 

 spotted, and are well disposed to fatten, coming up 

 to a great weight, when properly managed in re- 

 spect to food. But the v/riter of the late work on 

 Live Stock says, they are generally dark-spotted, 

 i some black, of a longer and flatter make than those 

 of Berks, ears more pointed, head long and sli'irp, 

 resembling the Essex. However, he speaks of tliejn 

 as they are found in the ranj2;e of Basingstoke and 

 Andover. They are generally, he says, bought up 

 with the Berks stock, the dealers themselves being 

 inattentive to any distinction between the two va- 

 rieties. The goodness of the Hampshire hog is 



