54 DISEASES OF SWINE 



lent quality of pork, which contains a fair proportion of lean meat. 

 They cross well with other breeds, and impart size, freedom of 

 movement, and improved breeding qualities to the animals of the 

 smaller breeds. 



The most important Berkshire Association in the United States 

 is the American Berkshire Record Association, which has its 

 headquarters at Springfield, 111. 



MULEFOOT HOG 



This is one of the most interesting of all the breeds of swine, 

 especially to those who are inchned to consideration of the unusual. 

 The great distinguishing point with regard to 

 this breed is the solid hoof, rather than the spHt 

 or cloven hoof as seen in all other breeds. The 

 Mulefoot hog also at one time enjoyed an- 

 other peculiar distinction, which has since 

 been discarded. The hog appears to have in 

 many instances something akin to partial im- 

 munity against cholera. A number of years 

 ago, when this fact was first noted, a number 

 of overenthusiastic admirers of the breed 

 began to advertise the Mulefoot as hog-cholera 

 jyr "j r X proof. This claim was not founded on a suffi- 



cient amount of actual tests, and it has since 

 been found that the Mulefoot is just as susceptible perhaps as 

 the other breeds. 



It was a very unfortunate thing for the Mulefoot hog that it 

 was popularized along this line, for when it became definitely 

 proved that such was not the case, the main support of the breed 

 in the eyes of the farmer was removed, and for a number of years 

 Mulefoots were in very poor demand. They are now coming to 

 the fore again from the standpoint of actual merit as breeders, 

 grazers, and feeders, and are taking their proper place in the fore 

 ranks of American swine. 



The early history of the Mulefoot hog is somewhat of an un- 

 written book. The investigators of the early history of swine trace 

 mention of the Mulefoot back even to the time of the Greek philos- 

 opher Aristotle, who mentions the solid-hoofed hog in his writings. 



