948 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



XV. 



SWINE DESCRIPTION OF" BREEDS. 



THE Poland - Chinas. There has been interminable 

 wrangling among the breeders of the different strains of 

 these hogs, and enough has been written to fill volumes 

 in trying to prove or disprove the claims of A or B that they 

 were the originators of the breed. It is not my purpose, how- 

 ever, to discuss this question, for it is one in which the general 

 public has no interest, but rather to describe the breed as I 

 have known it from my boyhood. Although breeders differ on 

 many points in the history of these hogs, they all agree that 

 they originated in the Miami Valley, and the farmers on the bor- 

 ders of Warren and Butler counties, Ohio, claim the honor of 

 producing it. Previous to the meeting of the National Conven- 

 tion of Swine Breeders at Indianapolis, in November, 1872, where 

 the name Poland-China was adopted, these hogs were known by 

 a great diversity of names, among which were " Butler County," 

 " Warren County," " Magie," " Miami Valley," " Poland," 

 " Shaker," " Union Village," " Dick's Creek," and many other 

 local names. It would have been wise, I think, if the conven- 

 tion had named them " The Miami Hog," thus perpetuating the 

 locality which originated it, and of which there is no dispute. 



The breed was produced by the crossing of the various 

 breeds of improved hogs that had been brought into the Miami 

 Valley at an early day, and among the breeds claimed as hav- 

 ing contributed to the formation of the " Poland-Chinas " are 

 the "Byfield," "Russia," "Big China," "Irish Graziers," "Berk- 

 shires," and "Poland." On this point there has been much con- 

 troversy, however, some of the breeders claiming that there was 

 no Berkshire blood used, and others that there was no such 



