THE PIGS OF GREA.T BRITAIN, 



OHAPTEE I 



INTRODUCTORY, 



N following up our illustrations of domesticated 

 animals we propose to devote some chapters to the 

 more prominent breeds of pigs, such as the Berkshire, 

 the Large, Small, and Middle-bred White Sorts, the 

 black Suffolk, the Dorsetshire and the Tamworth varieties, 

 which have of late years acquired distinction in the hands of our 

 leading breeders. In approaching this subject we feel that it 

 may be deficient in interest for the general reader ; we cannot 

 fall back on an attractive history. The pig is too common an 

 animal to attract much attention, and yet it will be allowed that 

 a fair amount of profit may be derived from these useful quad- 

 rupeds, which have a special value as the scavengers of the 

 farm. 



The pig has been domesticated from a very early period. We 

 find mention of it both in sacred and profane history, and we 

 know that in the early days of this country no description of live 

 stock were so abundant, and herds of pigs grazing in the wood- 

 lands formed no inconsiderable part of the revenues. Our 

 readers will call to mind the character of Gurth, so ably depicted 

 by Sir Walter Scott in " Ivanhoe," who, by the aid of his horn 

 and his dog Fangs — half mastiff, half greyhound, and whole 

 lurcher — collected together his riotous herd after they had 

 filled themselves with acorns and beech masts. Old England 



