62 SWINE IN AMERICA 



publish pedigrees and promote the dissemination of these 

 soHd-hoofed swine, which are claimed by their admirers 

 to be in all respects equal to those of other breeds, be- 

 sides having a vitality that makes them strangers to 

 ordinary diseases, and "cholera-proof"! 



Hogs of this family are mainly black, with more or 

 less white points or markings, have coats of soft hair, 

 fairly gentle dispositions, fatten quite easily, and can be 

 made to weigh at two years or more from 400 to 600 

 pounds, and sometimes heavier. As a matter of fact 

 they have no particular merits not possessed by other 

 breeds, but their having solid instead of cleft hoofs 

 makes them, as freaks, objects of curiosity to most per- 

 sons, and the type, regardless of merit, will not be with- 

 out admirers for this one feature, if for no other. At 

 the first auction sale of these hogs, in Johnson county, 

 Indiana, in the autumn of 1908, twenty-three sows 

 brought an average of $32.50 each and six boars $20.10 

 each. One sow sold for $60. 



Many of these hogs have wattles on their lower jaws. 

 These consist of a round or teatlike piece of skin or 

 tissue hanging on each side of the lower jaw, covered 

 with hair, and on a full-grown hog are from three to 

 four inches long. 



In southern Missouri and northern Arkansas these 

 swine are designated as ''Ozark hogs." Various state- 

 ments of their origin are extant, but no one knows 

 definitely about it, which is of little consequence, al- 

 thousrh thev are well enousrh in their wav. 



