80 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 



agreed that the Berks breed is best adapted for hams and 

 bacon, and not for small fresh pork. As I have already 

 mentioned, the Berks boar has been used to cross the 

 large breed in Yorkshire, but without permanently satis- 

 factory results in establishing a breed ; for a first cross with 

 almost any breed, it is sure to produce a well-sized useful 

 animal. In reply to questions addressed through the 

 landlord of the Arley Hall estate, in Cheshire, to his prin- 

 cipal tenants, it seems that the dairy farmer of that 

 county finds it profitable to cross the dark or spotted sows 

 which they have in the county, and also those they pur- 

 chase largely from Shropshire and Wales, with a Berk- 

 shire boar. The produce is all, or nearly all, made into, 

 and sold for making bacon. On the other hand, in Kent, 

 Mr. Betts, of Preston Hall, buys Berkshire sows and 

 crosses them with a white Windsor boar, ' the produce 

 being invariably white." 



IMPROVED ESSEX (Fig. 22). 



We have already given some account of this celebrated 

 breed, but the American farmer will be glad to read what 

 Mr. Sidney writes in regard to it. He says : " The im- 

 proved Essex is one of the best pigs of the small black 

 breeds, well calculated for producing pork and hams of 

 the finest quality for fashionable markets ; but its great- 

 est value is as a cross for giving quality and maturity to 

 black pigs of a coarser, hardier kind. It occupies, with 

 respect to the black breeds, the same position that the 

 small Cumberland-Yorks do as to white breeds that is to 

 say, an improved Essex boar is sure to improve the prod- 

 uce of any large dark sow. 



" The original Essex pig was a party-colored animal, 

 black, with white shoulders, nose, and legs in fact, a sort 

 of ' sheeted ' pig, large, upright, and coarse in bone. 



" The first improvement was made by the late Lord West- 



