nA:MPSUIEE HOG.] 



PIGS 



[HAiiPSHiBE no a. 



Leicestershire' hogs were of the same coarse, 

 ungainly kind, which prevailed generally 

 tliroughout the midland counties. He com- 

 menced, as he had done with the sheep, by a 

 judicious selection of stock destined for breed- 

 ing ; and, by persevering in this course, he 

 greatly modified the characters of the old 

 races. This was imitated in Yorkshire. The 

 old breed, by crossings with the new Leicester 

 stock, was much improved. The cross breed 

 lost in size, but gained in every other good 

 quality. Ifc became deep-chested, short-limbed, 

 small-boned, and fattened readily. The coarse 

 ugly bristles were exchanged for fine thin hair, 

 and the whole aspect of the animal underwent 

 a transformation. The hogs, at about two 

 years old, averaged from thirty to fifty, and even 

 sixty stones, of 14 lbs. ; the younger animals 

 weighing in proportion." 



Some of the Yorkshire breeders still rear 

 the pure new Leicesters, and consider them 

 more profitable than the larger kinds. These 

 breeds have also found friends in Yorkshire ; 

 and among these, are the Berkshire crosses 

 with the old Yorkshire, and with Lord Wes- 

 tern's improved Essex breed. The improved 

 Berkshires are classed among large swine ; 

 but the effect of crossing with various smaller 

 breeds, has been to reduce the size and improve 

 the shape; so that the present Berkshires are 

 Lihort of limb, roundly made, arched in the 

 neck, with heavy cheeks, sharp ears, and 

 abruptly rising forehead, short snout, broad 

 back, and clean limbs. In colour they are usu- 

 ally a mixture of half white, half black. The 

 average weight of an improved Berkshire hog, 

 fit to kill, is about 400 lbs.; but ham-curers 

 purchasing them from the farmers, give a pre- 

 ference to the smaller breed, which averages 

 Irom nine to fourteen score. 



THE HAMPSHIRE HOG 



This hog is about the same size as the 

 Berkshire; but as less attention has been paid 

 to its improvement, it possesses a degree of 

 coarseness to which the other is a strano-er. 

 It is generally black, or spotted with red ; but 

 there arc, also, a considerable number of white 

 pigs in this county. Within the last twenty 

 years a great improvement has been produced 

 in their make, which may be considered to 

 have been forced upon the breeder, on account 

 764 



of his being so near a good market where 

 improved animals could meet with ready dis- 

 posal. No Hampshire farmer, however, has 

 distinguished himself as a pig-breeder ; and we 

 do not remember an instance of Hampshire 

 pigs carrying away any of the prizes at the 

 Smithfield show. Prom these facts we may 

 draw the conclusion, tliat although the county 

 is productive of excellent hogs, still these are 

 not such as would be choseu to establish a 

 new, or improve an old breed. The New 

 Porest of Hampshire was long notable for 

 the numbers of swine which fed upon the 

 acorns that fell from its oaks. Even so re- 

 cently as the time of the Eev. Mr. Gilpin, we 

 find him describing, in his liemarlcs on Forest 

 Scenery, the manner in which the swine were 

 suftered to regale themselves as they wandered 

 beneath the umbrageous trees, which were the 

 means of both sheltering and nourishing 

 them: — " These woods afi'ord excellent feeding 

 for hogs, which are led in the autumn season 

 into many parts of the forest, but especially 

 among the oaks and beeches of Boldre-wood, 

 to fatten on mast. It is one of the rights of 

 the forest borderers to feed their hogs in the 

 forest during the 2Jawni?iy month, as it is termed, 

 which commences about the end of September, 

 and lasts six weeks. Eor this privilege they 

 pay a trifling acknowledgment at the steward's 

 court at Lyndhurst. The word pawnage was 

 the old term for the money thus collected. 

 The method of treating hogs at this season of 

 migration, and of reducing a large herd of 

 those unmanageable brutes to perfect obe- 

 dience and good government, is curious. The 

 first step the swineherd takes is to investigate 

 some close-sheltered part of the forest, where 

 there is a couveniency of water, and plenty of 

 oak or beech mast, the former of which he 

 prefers, when he can have it in abundance. 

 He fixes next on some spreading tree, round 

 the bowl of which he wattles a slight circular 

 fence of the dimensions he wants ; and covering 

 it roughly with boughs and sods, he fills it 

 plentifully with straw or fern. Having made 

 this preparation, he collects his colony among 

 the farmers, with whom he commonly agrees 

 for a shilling a-head, and will get together 

 perhaps a herd of five or six hundred hogs. 

 Having driven them to their destined habi- 

 tation, he gives them a plentiful supper of 



