100 BEGINNINGS IN ANIMAL HUSBANDRY 



The early forms of the domestic hog were found 

 among the people of several countries, but more especially 

 Great Britain, southern Europe, and China. Domestic 

 swine were kept in herds in England as far back as 863 

 years before Christ. It is said that in Greece large droves 

 were cared for by swineherds perhaps 3000 years ago. In 

 Italy these animals have long been valued, and the blue- 

 skinned, thin-haired, long-legged Neapolitan hog of that 

 country was imported into England perhaps two centuries 

 ago to improve the Berkshire and the coarse white hogs of 

 Great Britain. The Chinese produced a class of white pigs 

 that American and British sailors bought on their travels 

 and brought home, which were used to improve the native 

 stock. Red hogs bred on the west coast of Africa were also 

 brought to America over a century ago, and their blood 

 mingled with our common stock. From this ancestry, 

 after long years of careful breeding, in Great Britain and the 

 United States, have come our present highly improved domes- 

 tic breeds of swine, of which the following are of interest. 



The Berkshire hog is a native of England, and receives 

 its name because of its early development in the county of 

 Berks. This is a region of mild temperature in south-central 

 England, well suited to live stock. The Berkshire was 

 known as a breed late in the eighteenth century. Then it 

 was black, or reddish-brown in color with black or light spots, 

 and had large ears hanging down in front. It was small 

 boned and fattened easily for those times, and frequently 

 weighed over a thousand pounds. It was improved by the 

 use of Neapolitan and Chinese blood in particular. In the 

 middle of the nineteenth century, when it was considered 

 the best breed in England, the Berkshire was still reddish 

 or sandy-colored, with more or less black spots, but was not 

 so large and coarse as those of the previous century. In the 



