90 THE HOG. 



stood erect. It was also far from being a profitable animal, requiring 

 a very considerable quantity of food, and when fat producing only 

 coarse-grained meat. But since the facility of export has become 

 greater, considerable improvement has been effected by the introduo 

 tion of Berkshire and Chinese boars and sows, and crossing the old 

 breed pretty extensively with these. Thus the unwieldiness of size 

 and coarseness of bone have been diminished, and greater aptitude 

 for fattening communicated, which latter qualification is invaluable to 

 the poor peasant. There is, however, great room for still further 

 improvement, and we trust that before long some enterprising indi- 

 viduals will devote their energies to the task, and thus become the 

 means of bestowing a great benefit on the peasantry of the " sister 

 isle." 



Steam navigation has wonderfully increased the trade in pigs be- 

 tween England and Ireland, for we find that in 1821 only 104,501 

 of these animals were brought into Liverpool ; while in 1837, 

 595,422 were imported. The cost of conveyance has been so mate- 

 rially decreased by the facility of steamboat and railway convey- 

 ance, that this is not at all to be wondered at. 



Irish pork or bacon is not so fine-grained or so finely flavored as 

 the English ; and although imported in considerable quantities, sells 

 for a much lower price than our own. This has been attributed by 

 some to the pigs being entirely fattened on potatoes, but it is also 

 referable to the innate coarseness of the animals themselves. 



Martin says :* The improvement in our breeds of domestic swine 

 during the last few years has been very decided. And not only so ; 

 the general system of crossing now pursued, tends to the establish- 

 ment of a uniform race throughout every county, that is, a race 

 presenting the same outstanding characteristics. Changes are ra- 

 pidly taking place, and the fear is, that the improvements may be 

 carried so far as to result in the formation of a stock of animals 

 smaller in size than comports with utility, and delicate in constitution. 

 We say there is a fear of this : at the same time, we well know that 

 the farmer will not lose sight of his own interests. It cannot be 

 denied that our breeds, for ages occupiers of the land once tenanted 

 by their wild and fierce progenitors, needed great alteration. They 

 were large, coarse, unthrifty animals, with a long broad snout, large 

 flapping ears, low in the shoulders, long in the back, flat-sided, long in 

 the limbs, and large-boned, with a thick hide covered with coarse bris- 

 tles. Their color was generally white or yellowish, sometimes more 

 or less spotted with black. They were enormous feeders, but slow 

 fatteners, consuming more food than was repaid by their flesh. At 

 the same time, the females were peculiarly fertile, and this is almost 

 the only thing that can be said in their praise. 



Such, then, was the old, coarse, uncouth breed, spread, with trifling 



* What follows, to page 100, is by Martin. 



