IMPROVEMENT OF THE ENGLISH BREEDS OP PIGS. 47 



CHAPTER IX. 



IMPROVEMENT OF THE ENGLISH BREEDS OF PIGS. 



The improvement in the breeds of pigs has kept pace 

 with the improvement in general agriculture. High 

 breeding is profitable when accompanied with high feed- 

 ing and high farming; but a highly refined animal is not 

 suited to a rude, primitive system of agriculture. The Eng- 

 lish breeds of pigs to-day, as compared with those of half a 

 century ago, do not show greater improvement than is 

 found in the general system of farming. There are still 

 poor farmers in England, and there are also poor breeds 

 of pigs ; but it must be admitted that we can find in 

 England the best specimens of high farming, and the best 

 specimens of well-bred cattle, sheep, and pigs ; and as 

 good culture is rapidly becoming more general, there is 

 an increasing demand for improved breeds, at high prices. 

 There can be no doubt that the general improvement in 

 agriculture, and the more general demand for improved 

 breeds has greatly stimulated the efforts of the profes- 

 sional pig breeders ; and it is doubtless true that several 

 of the English breeds of pigs are to-day superior in form, 

 early maturity, and fattening qualities, than any other 

 breed in the world. 



The early English breeders made great improvements, 

 but being ahead of their times, they met with compara- 

 tively little demand for their improved pigs, and no ade- 

 quate remuneration for their skill and labor. 



It is not necessary to review the means employed by 

 the breeders of the last century to improve the English 

 breeds of pigs. Suffice it to say that it is generally ad- 

 mitted that much of this improvement is due to crossing 

 the large English sows with the highly refined Chinese 

 boars, and in selecting from the offspring such animals as 



