SWINE IN FRANCE. 69 



In Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the northern parts of Europe, 

 the .iwine yet retain all the characteristics of their ancestor the wild 

 boar. They are mostly of a red, or dirty brown, or yellow color; 

 long in the body, light and active in make, having long legs, a broad 

 flat head, erect ears, and a nervous, slightly up-turned snout. They 

 are wild in their habits, fierce, not ap-*, fatteners, or producing deli- 

 cate meat. 



In Holland and Belgium we find numerous varieties and crosses, 

 but the original breeds have large bodies and long lopping ears ; the 

 sows are prolific, and if properly attended to, the animals fatten very 

 kindly. There is a variety often met with, and much esteemed for 

 its productive powers, its disposition to fatten, and the delicacy of its 

 flesh, which most probably derives its origin from a cross between 

 a native pig and one of the Siamese breed. This animal is of a me- 

 diAm size, rather short on the legs, with a full round body, straight 

 back, broad flanks, and small head. The bristles are white and thinly 

 scattered over the back, but growing rather closer upon the neck 

 and towards the head. 



FRANCE. 



The original breeds of France are mostly coarse ungainly animals, 

 for the most part white, excepting towards the south, and there we 

 find the native breeds very much to resemble those of Italy. " In 

 the time of Buffon, the greater proportion of the hogs in the north 

 of France were white, as were likewise those of Vivarais ; while in 

 Dauphiny, which is not far distant, they were all black. Those of 

 Languedoc and Provence were also of the latter color. Black pigs 

 still prevail both in Italy and Spain. According to the great French 

 naturalist, one of the most evident marks of degeneration (an ill-ap- 

 plied term) is furnished by the ears, which become more supple and 

 pendent as the animal changes into the domestic state. He regards the 

 wild boar as the model of the species erroneously, for it can only 

 be looked upon as formed on the model best adapted to the haunts 

 and habits of a wild animal, the welfare of which requires either the 

 instinct of a cunning concealment or the possession of strength or 

 swiftness. Now concealment in a pigsty is of little avail when the 

 day of terror comes, and the obesity of a well-fed porker is, and 

 must ever continue, entirely inconsistent either with speed of foot or 

 vigor of limb ; therefore the proper attributes of the animal in its 

 unreclaimed and domesticated conditions being incompatible with 

 each other, those of the former ought not in any way to be set up or 

 assumed as a model by which the latter should be altered or im- 

 proved." Quarterly journal of Agriculture, vol. iii. Of late years 

 French agriculturists have seen the advantages small breeds possess 

 crver large ones, and endeavored by judicious crosses to reduce the 



