THE BERKSHIRE 693 



small bone, hardiness, and the prolificacy of the females. Yet, 

 according to various authorities, there must have been wide 

 extremes in color, size, and type of the Berkshire in these forma- 

 tive days. In 1897 Sanders Spencer, in commenting on changes 

 in swine, due to the breeder's art, wrote : 1 " Take, for example, 

 the style, character, formation, and color of a Berkshire pig, which 

 was considered to be of correct type some forty years ago ; it bears 

 but the very slightest resemblance in color, form, and character to 

 the Berkshire pig of the present day." No one was better qualified 

 to express this opinion than Mr. Spencer. 



Important early British improvers of the Berkshire were 

 Richard Astley of Oldstonehall, whom Low notes as the great 

 improver of the breed, and Lord Barrington, who died in 1829. 

 In 1 860, Sidney, a noted authority on swine, wrote that Lord Bar- 

 rington did a great deal toward improving the Berkshire breed, 

 the improved stock of that time nearly all tracing back to his herd. 

 The methods of these two breeders, however, have not been given 

 publicity, and very little is known concerning them. About the 

 middle of the nineteenth century William Hewer of Sevenhamp- 

 ton, Wiltshire, was a noted breeder and improver. Closely follow- 

 ing him came Russell Swanwick of the Royal Agricultural College 

 at Cirencester and Heber Humfrey of Abingdon, both of whom 

 did much for the breed in England. 



The introduction of the Berkshire pig to America took place 

 in 1823, according to A. B. Allen, who credits John Brentnall, 

 an English farmer, who settled in the English neighborhood 

 in New Jersey, with this importation. In 1832 Sidney Hawes, 

 another English farmer, brought some Berkshires to America and 

 settled near Albany, New York. Allen states that he owned pigs 

 descended from each of these importations. In 1835 Munson 

 Beach of Butler County, Ohio, purchased from New York the 

 Berkshire boar Dick Johnson and the old sow Superior. These 

 two individuals did much to establish the Berkshire in Ohio, Ken- 

 tucky, Illinois, and Missouri. In 1839 Messrs. Bagg and Wait, 

 English farmers who had settled in Orange County, New York, 

 made a large importation, which they followed by still others. 

 In 1841 A. B. Allen of New York, after visiting England and 



1 The Pig : Breeds and Management. 



