CHARACTERISTICS OF DARK BREEDS 369 



contour, showing evidence of 'careful breeding, 4; total 

 points, 100. 



Defects that are objections in Berkshire pigs and gener- 

 ally in other breeds : Forehead, narrow ; a short pug nose ; 

 ears, thick, coarse, white, or much inclined forward ; jowl, fat 

 and full; neck, short and very thick and fat; chest, narrow, 

 with both forelegs apparently coming from almost the same 

 point ; shoulders, coarse, heavy, or wide and open on the 

 top ; girth light round the heart, and foreflank light ; back, 

 weak and hollow when the pig is standing at rest ; sides, shallow, 

 not well let down between the forelegs ; ribs, flat or short 

 curved ; back rib, light ; loin, narrow and weak ; belly, flaccid, 

 or wanting in muscle, or gutty, or podgy ; flank, thin, and 

 not well let down ; quarters, short, narrow, or drooping ; 

 hams, narrow, wanting in depth, or deficiency of muscle in 

 second thigh; tail, coarse and set on low; legs, crooked, 

 weak, and with round and coarse bone ; ankles, extra large, 

 round, and weak ; feet, flat, splayed, and extra wide or large ; 

 unevenness, wrinkles on sides, neck, or shoulders ; coat, coarse, 

 curly, bristly, or maney, with fringe along the top of the neck 

 and shoulders; the hair, when too hard and strong, shows 

 want of breeding, a thick skin, coarse offal, slow feeding ; 

 when not abundant, or weak and soft (especially in the boar), 

 want of constitution, probably the result of too close in- 

 breeding, which leads also to the progeny becoming small, 

 weak, and uncertain in breeding and liable to scrofula and 

 other diseases, as well as to the loss of the tail, if the animal 

 escapes being deformed or still-born ; action, sluggish and 

 clumsy ; symmetry, predominance of certain points, especi- 

 ally heavy shoulders or fore quarters generally, with weak 

 loins and light hams. Disqualifications : White or rusty 

 patches of hair ; in boars, rupture, or one testicle only down ; 

 in sows, deficiency in or very irregularly placed-on blind 

 teats ; injured or diseased udders. 



Berkshires have been favourites where the climate is not 

 too cold the boars being valuable for crossing with common 

 stock. They are widely distributed throughout both England 

 and America, and they are a prominent feature in the great 

 Hog Market of Chicago, where the lard-producing pig is in 

 the ascendant. Ireland owes more to the Berkshire than to 

 any other British pig. The produce of a Berkshire sow by a 



2 A 



