SWINE. 



631 



ring assonances and concordant sounds. Nor 

 they admit that his poetry is merely exquisite 

 sound. They find it as lull as adverse critics tind it 

 void, of suggestive and valuable thought. They dote 

 on his "marvellous execution," his "wonderful 

 technique," but assert tliat those powers are but 

 superadded to that of vitalizing his verse with a 

 substance of thought worthy of the lyric splendor 

 shown in its construction. To them his strains are 

 as subtly strong as they are surpassingly sweet. 

 He is a sovereign among rhythmists iii all moods 

 an absolute autocrat of verse. 



Whatever may be our conclusions about Swin- 

 burne, it is certainly long since any man in the liter- 

 ary world has provoked discussion more varied, 

 more extended, more unintermitting. For wellnigh 

 a quarter of a century he has been a most prominent 

 figure among contemporary men of letters. Writing 

 not for gain, but simply and solely to please him- 

 self, following unfalteringly his own star, whitherso- 

 ever it might take him, refusing to yield so much as 

 a single article in his artistic code, to gain a friend 

 or to placate a foe, he has produced a mass of work 

 which, good or bad, is undeniably original and char- 

 acteristic, aud from which neither his brother ar- 

 tists, nor the camp- folio wing critics, nor the hosts 

 of the philistines have been able successfully to 

 avert their gaze. He is a man whom his admirers are 

 tiuable to sufficiently praise, and whom his detractors 

 treat with all manner of contempt, save the supreme 

 contempt of silence and neglect. 



Swinburne's collects 1 works comprise : The Qnten Mother 

 and Knx'imond (iw> plays ISiti) ; Atalanta in (^alydon : a 

 Tragedy (I8IVV); V/iaxlelarri : a Tragedy (1*15) ; 1'urna and 

 Jliliath (I8*i) ; Note* mi Pouia and Jteviexi (18*it>) ; A 

 Aim'/ of Italy (I8.i7) ; William lilake : a Critical Katay 



) \ Siena: a I'oem (I80<) ; (Mr. on the Proclamation of 

 the French Republic (Sept 4, 1870) ; .S'-./iyi before Sitiirue 

 (1871); Under the Uicnampe (187-') ; JJothaell : a Traged-j 

 (l-Tti; ',',-<>r : /e < 'h'tpinaii : a Critical Kmay (1875); Esunyt 

 and Studi'i (1875) ; So ay* of Tito ,Va(w>* (1875) ; Krech- 

 th>:u* : a Tragedy (1876); Note of an knglish Itejt nblifan on 

 the Mm-;,,-;!,- i.'naade (1870) ; A .V.<v .m < Imrlotte Bronte 

 (1877); A Year'i Letter* by .Ifr*. Iln-nee Manner* (1877); 

 J'oem* and Bdlailt: Second ti*rie (1878); A Htmly ,,f 

 Maketpeare (187U); Sung* of the Spring Tides (1880); 

 Kttidiet in Song (18SO) ; The Btptmlogbl ; or, flu Seven agaitttl 

 Keivte : a Cap aith Seven Jiell* (1880) ; Jfara Stuart : a 

 Tragedy (1881); Dingiat : a Dramatic Monologue (1881), 

 whi :h was a parody of one of Tennvson's poems ; Tritrni 

 HI' l.,j,,iue : with Other 1'or.in* (18*3) ; A Century of limin- 

 delf (181 ; A Jfidtunuiirr Holiday, and other Pvena (1SS4) ; 

 Jf'irino f'aliero : a Tragedy (18S">); A Study of Victor 

 Jf'i'/n flsv>); Jfucellaniei (1887); latrine: a Tragedy 

 (1887); Select P-ie.iu (I8S7). IT his Mitcellaniet have bran 

 included several of his characteristic contributions to the EN- 



CrcLOI'.EDIA BlUTANNICJA. (c. E. W. ) 



SWFXK were probably imported from Spain by 

 Columbus into Hispaniola (Hayti; in 1493, and into 

 Florida by De Soto about 1538. Within a century 

 later breeding stock found its way into Nova Scotia, 

 Newfoundland, Canada, and Virginia. 



Notwithstanding the receipt from foreign coun- 

 tries of an occasional pair or trio of superior speci- 

 mens, such as the Woburns or Bedfords sent by tho 

 duke of Bedford to Gen. Washington, there was, 

 prior to 1815-30, but little interest manifested in 

 any general improvement, and the stock of the coun- 

 try was mainly made up of coarse, ungainly brutes, 

 considered of moderate value to roam at will in the 

 forests, where, subsisting on mast, roots, and rep- 

 tiles, they grew in from two to four years to weights 

 of 150 to 400 pounds gross, of fairly good and 

 sweet-tasted meat, with a minimum quantity of fat 

 or lard. Since 1830 many improved swine of differ- 

 ent names and characteristics have been imported 

 from England for breeding purposes, and used with 

 kable effect in giving to America a greater 

 number of superior pork-producing animals than is 

 >ed by any other country. The old-time stock 

 of England was coarse and "deficient in fattening 



[ qualities ; and the great means of improvement was 

 I the using of boars of the compact, fine-boned Chi- 

 nese, Siamese, and Neapolitan stock, to which all 

 the best swine now on the globe are largely indebted 

 for their most valuable characteristics. 



The swine of America consist mainly of the fol- 

 lowing breeds or their crosses : Berkshire, Poland- 

 China, Chester, white Suffolk, Essex, Jersey reds, 

 Cheshires, and Victorias. The breed known as Po- 

 land-China had its origin early in the present cen- 

 tury in southwestern Ohio. John Wallace, of Union 

 Village, while visiting Philadelphia in 1816, pur- 

 chased an imported boar and three sows, designated 

 as " big Chinas," and took them to Warren county. 

 Their progeny became popularly known as "War- 

 ren county hogs." They were improved by mixture 

 with Berkshires in 183C and with " Irish Graziers " 

 in 1838. The stock thus produced constitute tho 

 basis of the breed known as " Poland-China." 

 There appears to have been no admixture of other 

 blood in the breed since 1840. For a long timo 

 there was great diversity in the designation for tho 

 breed, but the National Convention of Swine-breed- 

 ers, at Indianapolis, in November, 1872, compro- 

 mised on Poland-China as the name by which it 

 should be called. 



Great improvement has been made, especially 

 since 1870, in the form and finish of these swine, 

 and while prior to that time they were white- and 

 black-spotted, they are now bred more nearly black, 

 and in many instances are marked very much liko 

 I the Berkshire. The best specimens are well-haired, 

 have good length, short legs, broad, straight backs, 

 | deep sides, flanked well down on the leg, broad, 

 square hams and shoulders, deep chests, short, full, 

 high-crested necks, heavy joints, short heads, fine 

 muzzles, moderately fine and drooping ears, and 

 have very quiet, gentle dispositions. For size they 

 are equal to any swine raised, and are properly 

 classed among tho largest breeds. Much attention 

 is being paid to keeping accurate record of their 

 pedigrees, and for that purpose different associations 

 of breeders have published herd-books. Among 

 these are the American, at Vinton, Iowa; the Cen- 

 tral, at Indianapolis, Ind. ; and the <jliio, at Davton, 

 Ohio. 



The Berkshire was well known as a distinct breed 

 in Southern England a century ago, when tho stock 

 'of that name were ungainly, coarse-boned but 

 short-legged flat-sided, and lop eared, and required 

 two to three years in maturing. On account cf 

 yielding a large percentage of lean meat mixed with 

 their fat, they were favorites for making bacon. 



The earliest importation of these into tho United 

 States is supposed to have been made to New Jersey 

 in 1823 ; the next to the neighborhood of Albany, 

 N. Y., in 1832. In 1839, Bagg and Wait, English 

 farmers, settled in Orange Co., N. Y., began impor- 

 ting largely, selling their stock in Kentucky, Tennes- 

 see, Missouri, and the South. They were at that 

 time animals of superior excellence, but under tho 

 neglectful system of stock-raising then prevailing 

 they deteriorated rapidly and their popularity waned. 

 English farmers, however, never lost faith in tho 

 value of the breed, and continued to improve it from 

 year to year. About the year 1865 enterprising Am- 

 ericans were again attracted by the good qualities of 

 the swine and began making importations of the best 

 obtainable. Each year since has witnessed improve- 

 ment in form and quality, and the stock has been 

 distributed throughout every State and Territory, 

 being greatly esteemed either for pork-production 

 pure or for crossing on other sorts. 



Among the qualities that commend the Berksliiivs 

 to the favor of breeders and feeders are their remark- 

 able uniformity in color, form, and quality ; great 

 muscular power, vitality, and activity ; strong diges- 



