Ch. XLL] ON SWINE. 507 



BREEDS. 



The animal, though rendered disgusting by its proverbially filthy habits, 

 is yet, in consequence of the economy of its production and the delicacy 

 of its flesh, in universal esteem over the whole Christian world; and 

 the various breeds which have been reared by crosses between those ob- 

 tained from difl^'erent countries are so numerous, that any detailed descrip- 

 tion of them would fill a volume. 



CuUey, indeed, only distinguishes the Berkshire, the Chinese, the High- 

 land, and the Irish species; the latter of which, though living in the 

 same hut as sumptuously as his master, is an ill-formed animal, scarcely 

 meriting notice ; and the Highlander is described as an ugly brindled mon- 

 ster, the very epitome of the wild boar, yet scarcely bigger than an En^j^lish 

 terrier — 



"■ His bristled back a trench impaled appears, 

 And stands erected like a field of spears*." 



We shall, therefore, merely give a succinct account of those either con- 

 sidered as the origin of some peculiar race, or most generally bred tlirouo^h- 

 out the United Kingdom, as — the "Chinese," " Rudgewick," "Hamp- 

 shire," " Berkshire," " Tonquin," " Essex," " Suffolk and Norfolk," 

 " Shropshire," " Woburn," and " Dishley." 



The Chinese pigs were originally obtained, as their name imports, from 

 the Indies, and were long ago introduced into this country. There are two 

 distinct species — the white and the black ; the former better shaped than 

 the latter, but less hardy and prolific. Both are, however, small-limbed 

 ears and head fine, round in the carcase, thin-skinned, and the head so em- 

 bedded in the neck, that when quite fat, the end only of the snout can be 

 seen. They are for the most part so much smaller than the common run 

 of European swine, that they seldom reach a greater weight than sixteen 

 or eighteen stone when two years old ; they are also rather difficult to rear, 

 and the sows are bad nurses. Their flesh is too tender for bacon, has rather 

 too large a proportion of fat, and their hind-quarters are so deficient in pro- 

 portion to the size of the other parts, that they cut up to great disadvantage 

 for hams. The object of rearing them to mature age would, therefore, become 

 profitless ; but their great aptitude to fatten, and the extreme delicacy of 

 their meat — which, when young, is unrivalled — renders them valuable ; they 

 are consequently in great request among those dairymen who supply our 

 tables with roasting porkers. 



The black race have the character of being very thrifty, and of fattening 

 on a comparatively small quantity of food ; which valuable properties are so 

 desirable that, notwithstanding the smallness of their size, they have been 

 crossed with other breeds to very considerable advantage. They are like- 

 wise so prolific that one — of which a portrait is given in Bewick's Quad- 

 rupeds — had one litter of nineteen pigs, that being her third time of 

 farrowing within fourteen months, in which period she produced no less 

 than fifty young ! Their cross has, indeed, unquestionably efl"ected great 

 improvements upon the larger breeds of this country ; and although it 

 diminishes their weight, they have produced several kinds possessino- 

 properties superior to those of the parent stock. 



There is also a mixed breed, which are said to have been introduced by 

 the importation of a wild boar from America, of nearly the same kind, but 

 patched with black and white : some with thick, pointed ears, like the true 



* Dr. Hibbert's Account of the Shetland Islands, p. 427. 



