ANIMAL INDUSTRIES 265 



the contest with the more modern breeds of American 

 naming. Of these new breeds the earliest to arrive 

 was the Poland-China, the first Magie hogs being 

 shown by Moses Wick of Butte County in 1872 and 

 the next year by several breeders. A few years after, 

 Poland-Chinas began now and then to beat Berk- 

 shires and Essex in classes open to all, though the 

 Berkshire still held the lead in such tests. Even 

 the arrival of the Duroc or Jersey Bed, by several 

 importations in 1885, did not shake the Berkshire 

 in open sweepstakes and dropped from notice until 

 reintroduced as the modern Duroc-Jersey by H. P. 

 Eakle Jr. in 1905. The Berkshire and Poland-China 

 rivalry began its interesting course during the 

 eighties and still continues, with the Durocs holding 

 strongly against both of them. 



Although it is true, as stated, that California pork 

 producers have never caught up with the local con- 

 sumption, they did at one time seem on the heels of 

 it. The main purpose of spending so much time 

 and money to get the best hogs in 1853 was to save 

 the gold which was being sent away to pay for 

 importations. The details of such achievements before 

 1860 demonstrated that the best hogs did better, in 

 prolificacy and early maturity, than they did in the 

 places whence they came; that barley and sorghum 

 grain is as good as corn; that alfalfa is the best 

 clover hogs ever grew on; that the cured meat from 

 well-bred and well-grown hogs is exceptionally good 

 and keeps well. The importation of salt pork was 

 reduced from 51,169 barrels in 1853 to 29,444 in 



