Chapter LIX. 



BERKSHIRES. 



As indicated by the name, this variety of swine originated in the county 

 or shire of Berk, England. The old original Berkshire was a large, raw- 

 boned, coarse hog, with lop ears ; was black and white in color, with oc- 

 casional red or sandy spots. 



Improvement of the breed was begun about the year 1780, by cross- 

 ing with the Chinese hog ; but it was not until Lord Barrington's time 

 (1820-30) that the breed was brought to any degree of perfection. (It is 

 stated by some authors, that the Neapolitan hog was the main source of 

 Berkshire improvement ; this, however, is firmly denied by others, and we 

 have nowhere been able to find safe authority for the use of the Neapoli- 

 tan at all in this connection.) The methods pursued by Lord Barring- 

 ton can only be surmised, but it is certain that he added much to the 

 merits of the Berkshire breed, and achieved a reputation fully proved by 

 the fact that nearly all of the English Berkshires trace their ancestry to 

 his herd. 



Probably the first importation to the United States was made by John 

 Brentnall, of New Jersey, in 1823. Some years later, about 1832, Sid- 

 ney Hayes, an English farmer residing near Albany, N. Y. , brought over 

 a few head. Since that time numbers have been imported, and the im- 

 provement made by American breeders has been so marked as to cause 

 competent judges to decide in favor of the American-bred hog. Pro- 

 fessor James Long, in his admirable work, "The Book of the Pig," 

 speaking of breeding for exhibition, says : 



' ' In America the Berkshire pig is much more extensively bred than with us, and 

 there is in that country not only a very much larger number of breeders of pigs of an ex- 

 hibition type, but there is a Berkshire Pig Association, which is supported by a large 

 body of members, although English breeders, to whom the Americans originally came for 

 the foundations of their herds, have hitherto lacked sufficient spirit and energy to carry 

 anything of the kind to a successful issue." 



Although an English variety of swine, we prefer to accept the stand- 

 ard of American breeders as outlined in the following 



DESCRIPTION OF AMERICAN BERKSHIRE. 



Color black, with white feet, small white line in face, and a white 

 spot at tip of tail. (Occasionally there is a small splashing of white on 

 arm, and sometimes spots occur on other portions of the body, but their 



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