SUS SCROFA. 



sition to arrive at early maturity of muscle and fat, as in the 

 ox and sheep. The body is large in proportion to the limbs, or 

 in other words, the limbs are short in proportion to the body, 

 the extremities are free from coarseness, the chest is broad and 

 the trunk round. Possessing these characters, the hog never 

 fails to arrive at earlier maturity, and with a smaller consump- 

 tion of food, than when he possesses a different conformation. 



The true hog does not appear to have been indigenous to 

 America, but was brought over by the early voyagers from 

 the Old World, and it has now spread and multiplied through- 

 out the continent. The first settlers of Canada, the British 

 North American settlements, and the United States, carried 

 with them the swine of the parent country, and a few of the 

 breeds still retain traces of the old English character. From 

 its nature and habits, the hog was the most profitable and use- 

 ful of all the animals bred by the early settlers in the distant 

 clearings. It was his surest resource during his first years of 

 toil and hardship. It arrived earlier at maturity, required less 

 care, sought out for the most part its own food, was the least 

 subject to accidents and diseases in a new situation, and there- 

 fore best repaid any portion of attention bestowed on the 

 breeding and rearing of it. 



The widely extended foreign commerce of the Americans 

 afforded opportunities of procuring the varieties from China, 

 Africa, and other countries. The large consumption of pork 

 in the United States, far exceeding the consumption of any 

 other country, has also contributed mainly to the improvement 

 of the breeds, by causing the farmers of the different States to 

 pay considerable attention to the rearing of swine, which have 

 thus become one of the most important articles of commerce, 

 and a source of profit to the breeder on a large scale. 



The various breeds which have been reared by crosses be- 

 tween those procured from different countries are so numerous, 

 that to give any thing like a detailed description of all would 

 require more room than our plan will permit us to occupy. We 

 shall therefore give a short notice only of those which are either 

 considered as the origin of some peculiar race, or most gener- 

 ally bred for their fattening or other profitable qualities. 



The original native breeds of Great Britain may be ar- 

 ranged into two general classes ; but between these extremes 

 there are so many varieties, that numbers cannot be reduced 

 to either class. 



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