THE VICTORIA 



519 



selection by Colonel Curtis, who was a prominent stockman in 

 his day, resulted in the development of a white breed much after 

 the Middle Yorkshire type, with slightly dished face and erect 

 ear. The Swine Breeders' Convention at Indianapolis in 1872 

 approved of a committee report commending the Victoria. In this 

 it was stated that pigs of this breed if pure should have a direct 

 descent from a sow named Queen Victoria, which may be regarded 

 as the mother of the family and from which the breed probably 

 takes its name. So far as the writer is aware the Victoria stock 

 of Curtis ancestry is now no longer in pure-bred existence. 



Characteristics of the Victoria pig. The head is moderately 

 broad, the face has a medium dish, the ear is of small to medium 



FIG. 240. A group of prize-winning Victorias, bred and exhibited by George 

 F. Davis & Son, Dyer, Indiana. Photograph from the National Stock- 

 man and Farmer 



size and is carried very erect. The body is broad and deep, the 

 back level, and the tail set on at a line nearly with the level of 

 back. The shoulders and hams carry a considerable thickness 

 and fullness, and the length and depth of side meat is very good. 

 The length of leg is only moderate, and the quality of bone and 

 hair is fair. In general conformation one is reminded of the 

 Middle White of England. 



The size of the Victoria places it in the medium group with 

 the Poland-China and Berkshire. At maturity the sows should 

 weigh 450 pounds and the boars 600. The average weights for 

 Victorias shown at the American Fat Stock shows at Chicago 

 from 1878 to 1 88 1 inclusive were 460^ pounds for sows one year 

 and under two, 331 pounds for sows under one year, and 326 

 pounds for barrows between six months and one year old. 



