CHAPTER LXIX 

 THE DUROC-JERSEY 



The occurrence of red or sandy-colored pigs in America dates 

 back many years. When pigs of this color were first imported is 

 not recorded. A number of so-called breeds of red pigs were 

 kept early in the last century, and from these it has been assumed 

 the present-day red American pig, the Duroc-Jersey, is descended. 



The Guinea breed of pigs is frequently referred to in agricultural 

 writings of a half century or more ago. In that section of west- 

 ern Africa known as Guinea, slave-trading ships secured cargoes 

 for American ports. Here existed a red or sandy breed of swine, 

 which no doubt found its way to our shores. Youatt states that 

 these pigs were " large in size, square in form, of a reddish color, 

 the body covered with short, bristly hair, and smoother and more 

 shiny than almost any other variety of the porcine race." W. H. 

 Montgomery in 1852 wrote that the Red Guinea hog was 

 imported into his county in Iowa in 1849 from Steuben County, 

 New York. A correspondent of the American Farmer states 

 that the African or Guinea breed was brought to America as 

 early as 1804 or possibly earlier. 



The Portuguese breed of pigs was imported from Portugal by 

 Daniel Webster, about 1852, for his farm in Massachusetts. They 

 arrived at New York about the time of Webster's death, and his 

 heirs disposed of them to S. W. Jewett of Middlebury, Vermont, 

 and A. E. Beach of New York. They were dark red in color, 

 and in form resembled the Chinese pig. Red pigs from the 

 Webster importation and ancestry were distributed over several 

 states east and south. 



Spanish red pigs were imported by Henry Clay in 1837, f ur 

 in number, and taken to his farm, Ashland, at Lexington, Ken- 

 tucky, where they bred and successfully increased. This stock 

 met with favor and was considerably distributed south, notably 



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