THE HOG AS A DOMESTIC ANIMAL. 97 



Crossings and intercross] ngs are everywhere taking place, and all 

 the old stocks have become so altered, that the hog race of England 

 is generally assuming an approach to universal uniformity. The 

 modified New Leicesters and Yorkshires, the improved Berkshires, 

 the Essex, and the New Suffolks, with various intermixtures of the 

 Chinese and the Neapolitan races, are everywhere extending them- 

 selves. The gaunt, lanky, old breeds, flat in the sides and heavy in 

 the bone, are now rare, and regarded as curiosities. 



Among this diversity of intercrossings, certain strains are brought 

 to high perfection by the breeder's skill and patience, and are deemed 

 the highest even of the race to which they may belong. Thus, for 

 example, in Berkshire we have the Coleshill strain, the pure Wadley 

 strain, and the old Crutchfield strain ; in Essex we have Lord West- 

 ern's strain ; and the same observations apply to other counties. 

 But too often exorbitant overloading of fat is too much regarded a 

 point of less consequence than shape, fertility, and aptitude to fatten 

 upon moderate rations ; inasmuch as the wealthy have at their com 

 mand the means of forcing animals unnaturally, and think little of 

 the waste thereby incurred in order to accomplish their object. 

 Pigs are shown not only incapable of standing, but also of seeing, 

 from the enormous volumes of fat with which they are loaded. 

 Such an accumulation of fat is in itself disease. Think what must be 

 the state of the heart, the condition of the circulation, and the cha- 

 racter of the muscular fibres. We have heard of mice burrowing 

 in the fat of such animals, without appearing to occasion any pain or 

 inconvenience. In cattle-shows there is, in many respects, sufficient 

 evidence of the general and marked improvement which has taken 

 place in this class of domestic animals ; but we form our judgment 

 rather from those which show their points, are really well fed, and 

 not fattened up till they appear like bloated skins of lard as desti- 

 tute of definite shape, as of the power of moving about. What a 

 waste of money must the forcing of such a monster occasion ! The 

 outlay would have sufficed to bring three pigs into fine and profit- 

 able condition. And what is the object 1 ? To show in how short a 

 time a pig can be rendered a mass of fat, and upon what sort and 

 quantity of food. The better aim would be, to show how many 

 pigs could be well fattened in a given time upon a stipulated quan- 

 tity of food what breeds fattened the most kindly, and would be 

 found the most profitable. 



In Shropshire, Gloucestershire, Cheshire, Herefordshire, Oxford- 

 shire, and other counties, the old races of pigs have passed away, 

 and crosses with the Berkshire, and also with the Essex and the 

 Chinese, have taken their place. In short, the change is universal ; 

 and even in the southern parts of Scotland, where formerly but few 

 pigs were kept, and those of an inferior sort, excellent breeds pre- 

 vail, and pigs are largely reared by the farmers. 

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