BREEDS OF PIGS IN THE UNITED STATES. 113 



the Yorkshires. The leading breeders in Jefferson County 

 admit very freely that the breed is of mixed origin, but 

 it is claimed that they have been kept pure sufficiently 

 long to thoroughly establish the breed. We believe that 

 this, at any rate, has been the aim of some of the breed- 

 ers. When thoroughly established, the breed will occupy 

 a similar position to pure-bred large Yorkshires. The 

 boars will be useful to cross with coarse Chester White 

 sows, where larger hogs are desired than can be obtained 

 by using Berkshire, Essex, or Suffolk boars. 



THE MAGIE (OHIO) PIGS. 



The Hon. John M. Millikin, in his Prize Essay on the 

 Agriculture of Butler County, Ohio, gives an account of 

 a large breed of pigs which have obtained considerable 

 celebrity in some parts of the West. He says : 



" No county in the United States, of equal area, has 

 produced so many hogs of a superior quality as the county 

 of Butler. The breed which is so highly esteemed by our 

 farmers is the result of careful and judicious breeding, 

 conducted by our best breeders in this county, and the 

 adjoining county of Warren, for the last forty years. 



"The precise history of the method adopted to produce 

 this popular breed of hogs cannot be given as fully and 

 as reliably as its present value and importance demand. 

 The best information, of a reliable character, which can 

 be obtained, gives us to understand that as early as about 

 1820, some hogs of an improved breed were obtained and 

 crossed upon the then prevailing stock of the county. 

 Among the supposed improved breeds of hogs, there were 

 the Poland and Byefield. They are represented as being 

 exceedingly large hogs, of great length, coarse bone, and 

 deficient in fattening qualities. Subsequently more de- 

 sirable qualities were sought for, and the stock produced 

 by the crosses with Poland, Byefield, and other breeds, 



