Y2 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 



WHITE LEICESTERS (Fig. 19). 



We can ascertain nothing satisfactory in regard to the 

 origin of this breed of pigs. This is the more to be re- 

 gretted as the fact that they were " the great improvers 

 of the gigantic Yorks," invests them with more than ordi- 

 nary interest. 



Mr. J. W. Williams, of Somersetshire, is the principal 

 breeder of White Leicesters. He first exhibited in 1852, 

 and has taken the Smithfield Club gold medal, two gold 

 medals at the Paris Exposition in 1855, and numerous 

 other prizes. The portrait of the Paris Prize Leicesters 

 is given on page 71 (fig. 19). Mr. Williams states that 

 his fat pigs of this breed generally average the following 

 weights : 



5 to 6 months, 7 to 9 score Ibs 140 to 180 Ibs. 



8 " 10 to 12 " " 200 to 240 " 



10 " 12 to 15 " " ...240 to 300 " 



12 to 18 " 15 to 18 " " 300 to 360 " 



The pen of three pigs of this breed which received the 

 Smithfield Club gold medal in 1854 weighed, sinking offal, 

 at 18 weeks old, 180 Ibs. each. 



SUFFOLK AND OTHER WHITE BREEDS. 



Mr Sidney says : " Yorkshire stands in the first rank 

 as a pig-breeding county, possessing the largest white 

 breed in England, as well as an excellent medium and 

 small breed, all white, the last of which, transplanted into 

 the south, has figured and won prizes under the names of 

 divers noblemen and gentlemen, and more than one 

 county. The Yorkshire are closely allied with the Cum- 

 berland breeds, and have been so much intermixed that, 

 with the exception of the very largest breeds, it is diffi- 

 cult to tell where the Cumberland begins, and where the 

 Yorkshire ends. It will be enough to say, for the present, 



