CHARACTERISTICS OF WHITE BREEDS 361 



length of body ; (6) thick loins ; (7) stout thighs ; (8) short 

 legs; (9) long silky hair ; (10) a moderately thick skin, free 

 from wrinkles." 



The Small White is descended on one side from the 

 same native ancestors as the large Yorkshire, nevertheless 

 the two breeds resemble each other in little but colour. The 

 small breed is noted for its refinement and beauty, its small 

 bone, and its tendency to fatten qualities which have been 

 acquired through its ancestors crossing with Chinese pigs. 



The Small White occupies among white pigs the position 

 which the Southdown sheep holds among the Down breeds. 

 It is not, when bred pure, so much a tenant's pig as a 

 landlord's or a gentleman's pig. It produces excellent 

 fattening animals by crossing with common pigs, or even 

 with the Berkshire. It has been used for crossing in the 

 improvement of inferior breeds. 



Points. The skin and hair are pure white and the body 

 rounded, plump, symmetrical, and free from wrinkles ; the 

 head short, on a short thick neck, and the jowl very full ; the 

 ears small, short, erect, and inclining forward ; the face 

 excessively " dished " ; the snout straight while the animal is 

 young, but, although broad, becoming longitudinally much 

 contracted and quite turned up after a time, like the nose of a 

 pug dog ; shoulders full and wide ; the back very broad, and 

 the belly deep and near the ground. " The general appearance 

 of the animal is small, thick, and compact when compared 

 with other breeds." 



The leading drawbacks to the breed are the small number 

 of young usually produced at a birth, and the general delicacy 

 of constitution, necessitating extra care and attention, especi- 

 ally in their early stages. Both points of weakness are no 

 doubt due to close-breeding ; but in the matter of hair the 

 animal does not seem to have suffered in at least one of the 

 ways in which the injury from in-breeding usually shows 

 itself, the small breed being famous for a profusion of long 

 and silky hair. Its refined character of flesh adapts it for 

 producing porkers, but the want of a due proportion of 

 lean flesh to fat, besides a want of balance of parts in the 

 animal according to the demands of the bacon-curing trade, 

 excludes it from being a favourite with bacon-curers, and 



