- 5 TO - 



the prices obtainable for mutton for twelve or eighteen months 

 past have done much to stimulate the breeding of mutton sheep, 

 but the American tariff putting as it does a premium on light- 

 condition wool continues unmistakably to encourage pastoralists 

 to aim at the production of a fine crossbred quality of fleece. 



ROBERT WALLACE. British Breeds of Pigs. (Board of Agricul- 

 ture and Fisheries). British Breeds, of Live Stock. Lon- 

 don, 1910, p. 1-137. 



The following are some extracts from the important official pu- 

 blication of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries in the part re- 

 garding Pigs. 



Our domestic pigs are believed to be descended from the wild hog, 

 Sus scrofa, crossed with refined white Chinese pigs of a different 

 species, Sus indicus, and also with an earlier black offshoot of that 

 species brought from Italy, under the name of the Neapolitan. 



Consanguineous breeding is not successful in pigs, as it induces 

 sterility or deformity, and begins to show immediately, in the de- 

 ficiency of hair on the body, and in the loss of the tail, which 

 drops off at an early stage in the animal's development. 



Pigs are divided, irrespective of breed, into two classes the 

 Bacon Hog and the Fat or Lard Hog. The latter has reached its 

 greatest development in America, the greatest pig-rearing country 

 in the world, through the preponderance of maize in the tood, and 

 pigs of this class become loaded with fat until they weigh enor- 

 mously and bulge out of shape both before and behind. 



THE WHITE YORKSHIRE BREEDS. There are three varieties of 

 White Yorkshire, viz., the Large, the Small, and the Middle breeds 

 the last evolved from mating the Large and the Small together. 

 The Small breed had a preponderating proportion of Chinese blood, 

 and was almost perfection in symmetry, but carried too much fat, 

 and was too small and not prolific enough for a commercial pig. 

 As a natural result it has ceased to be a rent-paying animal, and 

 is now represented by a very limited number of survivors, which 

 are kept as a matter of historical interest rather than of utility. 



THE LARGE WHITE. The Large White Yorkshire vies with the 

 curly-coated Lincoln for the position of being the largest British 

 white breed. It has a long and abundant coat of fine white hair 

 on a white skin, which may now and then show a few blue spots. 



A full-grown boar in show condition may weigh up to about 



