96 THE HOG. 



email, sharp ears ; the limbs are short and fine-boned, the barrel is 

 rounded, the hams very full, the hair is spare and short, the skin 

 fine; some have small wattles or appendages of skin depending 

 from the neck. These animals fatten quickly, grow rapidly, and 

 yield very superior meat; as porkers they are admirable, the meat 

 being peculiarly delicate. The hogs, when fattened, will sometimes 

 weigh 360 to 400 Ibs., often 250 to 280. 



This black breed is greatly crossed with the Neapolitan, and we 

 believe the Sussex. 



A modification of this breed is oiten seen in Essex ; the pigs, like 

 the Sussex, are generally black and white the head and hinder 

 parts being black, and the central portion of the body w r hite. They 

 are admirable in shape, with a deep round carcass, and fine skin, 

 fine in the bone, and full in the hind quarters. The flesh is excellent. 

 The sows produce large litters, but are said not to make the best 

 nurses. We did not, however, hear this complaint from any of the 

 Essex farmers, during our frequent visits to Rochford and the 

 adjacent country. We suspect, however, that the Essex breed is 

 delicate, and requires care, as indeed do all high-bred domestic 

 quadrupeds. 



Sussex possesses a breed very much like the last particolored 

 race, of which it appears to be a variety. These pigs are well-made, 

 of middle size, with a thin skin, and scanty bristles ; the snout is 

 tapering and fine, the ears upright and pointed, the jowl deep, the 

 body compactly rounded. These pigs arrive early at maturity, and 

 fatten quickly ; the bacon hogs averaging a weight of 280 Ibs. The 

 flesh is excellent. Their bone, perhaps, is larger than in the Essex 

 breed, but then the improved stocks of this latter race are remark- 

 able for smallness of bone, and we doubt whether they are more bony 

 than the improved stocks of the old Berkshire strain. The breed is 

 undoubtedly valuable, and well adapted for crossing with the Essex, 

 Neapolitan, or Chinese. 



Sussex once boasted of a gigantic race of pigs, known by the name 

 of the Rudgwick breed, (Rudgwick is a village in that county,) some 

 of which were among the largest swine ever reared in our island. 

 As is the case with all huge breeds, these animals were slow feeders 

 and huge feeders ; but yielded an enormous weight of excellent 

 meat. Nevertheless, they became more and more influenced by 

 the intercrossings of new breeds, till at length the old stock has be- 

 come obsolete, its celebrity depending upon records and notices of 

 the last century. 



Bedfordshire has sent some admirable pigs to the great cattle- 

 shows in London. Nevertheless, the animals could not be called 

 truly Bedfordshire as to peculiarity of breed. They were crosses 

 of various kinds, in which, as it appeared to us, the Suffolk strain 

 was prevalent. 



