IMPROVEMENT OP THE ENGLISH BREEDS OP PIGS. 45 



of the race. In Ireland, the old gaunt race of hogs has, 

 for many years past, been gradually wearing away, and is 

 now, perhaps, wholly confined to the western parts of the 

 country, especially Galway. These swine are remarkably 

 active, and will clear a five-barred gate as well as any 

 hunter ; on this account they should, if it is desirable to 

 keep them, be kept in well-fenced inclosures." 



The picture of the " original old English pig " shows 

 that great improvement can be made merely by regular 

 feeding and judicious selection ; but it must be remem- 

 bered that probably it took hundreds of generations to 

 effect the change indicated in the engravings. That it 

 could have been effected in a much shorter time, is undoubt- 

 edly true. But the fact remains that, centuries after the 

 wild pigs had generally disappeared from the Island, the 

 domestic pig derived from them was still a very coarse, 

 slow maturing, and unprofitable animal. 



The French and Germans, as compared with the Eng- 

 lish, have made but little improvement in the breeds of 

 pigs, and many of the animals to be found upon the Con- 

 tinent are very much like the old English hog, bony, tall, 

 gaunt, wiry-haired, and slow to fatten. On page 46 we 

 give a portrait of a Craonnaire boar, which took a prize at 

 a French agricultural show in 1856. 



