56 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 



constitution of the common stock. They had the stomach 

 of the mother, and the refinement of the sire. No won- 

 der that they " have an excessive aptitude to fatten." 

 What else can they do with the large amount of food 

 they are capable of eating and digesting except to convert 

 it into flesh and fat ? There is a minimum of offal in this 

 breed, and they are exceedingly quiet. There is little 

 demand on the large quantity of food they can eat, and 

 nearly the whole of it must be converted into flesh and 

 fat ; and we have endeavored to show the immense ad- 

 vantage of having an animal that will consume a consid- 

 erable excess of food over and above that required to 

 sustain the vital functions. In this view of the matter it 

 is easy to see why the Improved Essex proved such a use- 

 ful breed in the hands of intelligent farmers. 



Many other similar instances of the improvement of 

 English breeds might be given, but it is not necessary to 

 do so. The principle which underlies them all is the same. 

 A large, vigorous, healthy sow, crossed with a highly re- 

 fined, thorough-bred boar, and the offspring carefully bred 

 until the desired qualities become established in the new 

 or improved breed. 



CHAPTER X. 



THE MODERN BREEDS OF ENGLISH PIGS. 



English writers on swine, twenty years ago, describe a 

 dozen or more breeds of pigs, then kept in England, and 

 nearly as many more in Scotland and Ireland. Youatt 

 and Richardson, both of whose works on the pig were re- 

 printed in this country, give a full account of these old 

 breeds. Many of these breeds have been, at one time or 

 another, introduced into the United States and Canada; 



