CHARACTERISTICS OF WHITE BREEDS 365 



noses and long legs but they are hardier than pigs of the 

 improved pure breeds. They are slower feeders than South - 

 country pigs, but milk well, and breed excellent crosses by 

 the improved Berkshire or the Yorkshire boar. The cross, 

 when fat, or large enough to weigh 12 stones of dressed pork, 

 yields about I stone less offal than the pure Scotch pig did. 

 Yorkshire boars have been so frequently used that the Scotch 

 pig has become a hardy cross with the less robust Yorkshires. 



The old Welsh breed was very long in the face, with 

 long lop ears, a long body, and a hardy constitution. Welsh 

 pigs of the present day are mongrels of superior types, 

 containing in different localities admixtures of at least four 

 of the most useful of our English pigs, viz., Large Whites, 

 Large Blacks, Berkshires, and Tamworths, grafted on the 

 original stock of the Principality. They are credited with 

 producing a large proportion of lean pork in proportion to 

 fat, are very hardy, and thrive better altogether than pure- 

 bred pigs do when exposed to the rough and tumble of an 

 ordinary farm where pigs receive only a minimum of 

 attention. They are in favour in Lancashire, where many 

 are grazed and fed in the open. The characteristics of the 

 breed are best seen in a sow that has had two or three 

 litters. Then her great length of head and snout, and length 

 of body (a correlation on which much store is put) have had 

 time to develop. The ears should be thin and clear, and 

 very large, the neck long, the shoulders comparatively 

 narrow, the back long, the sides deep, and the hind quarters 

 good. The colour varies considerably : it is sometimes 

 white; but at times white with large patches of blue skin 

 growing white hairs ; occasionally black and white, but not 

 often ; and in some districts chestnut takes an important 

 place. An excellent class of pig is bred in the Island of 

 Anglesea, where the common breeding sows, which still 

 exercise a considerable influence on the type, are crossed by 

 a boar of Tamworth and Berkshire origin ; in proportion of 

 blood about two of the former to one of the latter. The 

 people interested do not care for the Large White nor yet for 

 much Berkshire blood. The latter's chief function is to widen 

 the back when it tends to become too narrow. In the 

 district surrounding Bridgwater the cross has been made 



