26 DISEASES OF SWINE 



Moore and Mr. Magie were very active and enthusiastic admirers 

 of the breed, and it is to their enthusiasm and energy that much of 

 the early popularity and rapid improvement of the breed is due. 



In the earliest breeding in Warren County the Russian and 

 Byfield stock were crossed and also bred with other native hogs. 

 For many years various names were applied to the swine which 

 came from this district. Among other names used to designate 

 these breeds were Magie, Butler County, Warren County, Miami 

 Valley, Poland, Poland and China, Great Western, Shaker, Union 

 Village, Dick's Creek, Gregory Creek, as well as many others. 

 This haze of names goes to show what great confusion existed in 

 this early development. It is the most wonderful achievement of 

 the live-stock industry in the United States that these farmers 

 were able to evolve from this greatly jumbled mixture a distinct 

 breed of such excellence as that shown by the modern Poland-China, 

 as seen in the Corn Belt feed lots to-day. 



The advent of the Big China breed into the Miami Valley was 

 about 1816. The first of these hogs to arrive in the district were 

 brought by John Wallace from Philadelphia, who was a trustee of 

 the Shaker Colony at Union Village. As has been already stated, 

 it was to these Shakers around Union Village that the early improve- 

 ment of the breed was due. One of the most interesting things 

 about these Big China hogs is the fact that they were white in 

 color, or white with sandy spots. The Russian and Byfield breeds 

 were also white in color. From this it can be seen that the black 

 color of the Poland-China is not developed as a characteristic of 

 the early foundation stock, but is developed as a result of later 

 crosses. 



With the introduction of the Big China blood into the herds of 

 Warren County there was a marked improvement in the character 

 of the breed. These new animals were of superior quality, and 

 were excellent feeders, hardy constitution, and prohfic breeders. 

 This strain became very favorably known throughout what was 

 then known as the "Southwest" as the "Warren County Hog," 

 and proved the source of a great boom to the swine industry of 

 Ohio and Indiana in the period between 1816 and 1835. 



In 1835 Munson Beach, of Lebanon, Warren County, Ohio, 

 imported some Berkshire stock from New York State, and crossed 



