SWINE DESCRIPTION OF BREEDS. 



949 



breed of hogs as the Poland, but that the name originated from 

 the fact that one valuable strain of the hogs was produced from 

 a boar owned by an old Polander named Asher Asher. The first 

 importation of hogs of which we have a record which were used 

 in producing this breed was of the Big China, in 1816, while 





POLAND-CHINA BOAR, KINO OF P.-C.'S, 5,599. 

 Property of L. N. Bonham and S. E. Shellenberger, Oxford, Butler County, Ohio. 



other breeds were brought later, the Irish Graziers not till 1839 

 or 1840, and it was between 1840 and 1850 that the breed be- 

 gan to attract attention. 



During the thirty-five years that I have lived in Butler 

 County, Ohio, I have seen great improvement in these hogs, and 

 I believe the breed now to be as pure and thoroughly established 

 as the Berkshire or any other. Up to twenty years ago I do not 

 think this was true, for there was not at that time uniformity 

 of shape or color such as we now see. It was very common 

 then for sandy pigs, or those with more white than black, to be 

 found in litters bred from parents neither of which showed these 

 colors, and some of the pigs would be coarse and heavy boned, 

 while others were much finer and of more compact build. In 

 the hands of our best breeders they are now found of almost 

 perfect uniformity in color and shape. For ten years or more 

 past the tendency has been to dark colors, and among many of 

 our best breeders the Poland-China can now hardly be called a 



