SWINE. 



SWINE. 



improved. A roundness has been given to the 

 frame, with a proportionate depth of body; the 

 legs have been shortened, a finer bone pro- 

 duced, with a better appearance when growing 

 as a store, and a disposition to feed, quicker 

 and more kindly in the sty. 



Small white English breed. This breed of 

 small hogs is met with in several districts, but 

 prevails most in the northern parts of England. 

 It is of a white colour, thick, compact, and 

 well made in the body, short in the leg; the 

 head and neck well formed, ears slouching a 

 little downwards ; hardy, and well disposed to 

 fatten. 



The Essex breed. The original Essex breed 

 was not held in much repute. Their peculiar 

 character was a Jong, sharp head round- 

 backed; carcass flat, long, and generally high 

 upon the leg; bones not large; colour white, 

 or black and white; bare of hair; quick feed- 

 ers, but great consumers, and of an unquiet 

 disposition. A variety known as the Essex 

 half-blacks, which were introduced some years 

 ago by the late Lord Western, as descendants 

 from the Berkshire, have now justly acquired 

 such very great celebrity, as to be considered 

 by many good judges superior to most breeds 

 in the kingdom. They are described in the 

 Essex Report as black and white, short-haired, 

 thin-skinned, with smaller heads and ears than 

 the Berkshire, but feathered with inside hair, 

 which is a distinctive mark of both ; having 

 short,- snubby noses, very fine bone, brpad and 

 deep in the belly, full in the hind-quarters, but 

 light in the bone and offal. They feed remark- 

 ably quick, grow fast, and are of an excellent 

 quality of meat. The sows are good breeders, 

 and bring litters from 8 to 12; but they have 

 the character of being bad nurses. 



The Wiltshire Breed. Originally this was a 

 long-bodied, low hog, hollow about the shoul- 

 ders, and high on the rump; with middling 

 large pointed ears ; round bone ; and light in 

 colour. But of late years this breed has been 

 advantageously crossed with the pig and Berk- 

 shire sorts, and a smaller and better variety 

 produced. 



The Gloucester, the Yorkshire, the Northampton, 

 and the Hereford breeds, call for little notice. 

 The Hereford appears to be a descendant of 

 the Shropshire, and is a large, useful race ; but 

 the others are very inferior kinds, possessing 

 few good points. 



In reviewing the various breeds of swine, 

 a brief survey of the principal continental va- 

 rieties and distinct races may not be out of 

 place. I shall therefore give a slightly altered 

 abridgment of a diffuse article which some 

 time since appeared in the Quart. Jour, of A%r. 

 vol. iii. p. 49. 



France. In the time of Buffon, the greater 

 portion of the hogo of Vivarez and the north 

 of France were white ; while in Dauphiny, 

 Languedoc, and Provence, they were all black : 

 black pigs still prevail both in Spain and Italy. 

 The variety known in France under the name 

 of pore de nobles appears to be derived from the 

 improved English breed, which originated in 

 a cross between an Anglo-Chinese sow and an 

 emancipated American boar. The French 

 breeds of swine are in general bad, but excel- 

 1026 



lent hams are sent from Bretagne from hogs 

 reared on acorns and fatted off with maize. 

 The principal breeds of France at the present 

 time are 



1. The race of the Pays d'duge, in which the 

 head is small and sharp, ears narrow and 

 pointed, body long, legs broad and strong, hair 

 coarse, white, and bones small. It attains to 

 the weight of 800 Ibs. 



2. The race of Poitou. The distinguishing 

 characters of which are, head long and thick, 

 with the point projecting, ears large and pen- 

 dulous, body long, bones large, but broad and 

 strong, bristles coarse. Its weight seldom ex- 

 ceeds 500 Ibs. 



3. The race of Perigord. Neck thick and 

 short, body broad and compact, hair black. 

 This race, crossed with others, has produced the 

 pied swine, so common in the south of France. 



4. The race of Champagne. These do not fat- 

 ten well, they are of large dimensions, with 

 long, flat sides, broad, pendent ears, and coarse 

 white hair. 



5. The rare of Boulogne are also of considera- 

 ble size, and disposed to fatten quickly; ears 

 very broad, general colour white. This breed 

 has sprung from a cross between the larger 

 English breed and one of the common races 

 of France. 



The French pigs, although they have excited 

 many facetious observations from travellers, 

 and not unfrequently been compared to grey- 

 hounds, may be fattened, we are assured, at a 

 small expense; and the method of doing this 

 is now beginning to be understood. The 

 Chinese and English breeds are also getting 

 into use for crossing. The fact that 4,000,000 

 pigs are killed yearly in France, shows of how 

 ?reat importance they are to the small agricul- 

 turist. (For. Quart. Rev.) 



OTHER EUROPEAN BREEDS. In some parts 

 of Hungary the breed of swine is excellent., 

 [n Germany swine are common, but the breed 

 s everywhere indifferent. Of the other con- 

 tinental races only a very few require particu- 

 ar notice. 



The Jutland swine, which are of a large size, 

 and form an important branch of Danish com- 

 merce, have the ears large and pendent, body 

 elongated, back somewhat curved, legs long. 



The Swedish swine. The most peculiar and 

 characteristic breed of Sweden are supposed 



contain a cross of the wild boar, and have 

 he head broad, turned upwards ; ears unusu- 

 ally erect, body lengthened, legs long. 



The Polish and Russian pigs are generally 

 small, and of a reddish or yellowish colour. 



Race of the Cape of Good Hope. This breed is 

 somewhat less in size, but else approaches 

 closely to the Siamese pig, and is nearly iden- 

 ical with the breed of the South Sea Islands. 



1 probably originated in India. The hair is 

 black or deep chestnut, hard, and thinly scat- 



ered ; the ears are straight, and tail pendent 

 and terminated by a tuft of bristles. This race 

 s now very generally distributed ; it has been 

 propagated extensively in Australasia, and now 

 occurs not only in Southern Africa, but in 

 several parts of South America. , 



The smooth or short-legged swine, a breed de- 

 rived from the Chinese, are bred in Spain, For- 



