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better breeds. Yet in some places in England, and in more places 

 in Ireland, they are still preferred to every other kind of lio<^ by 

 ignorant or narrow-minded men. We have some such in New 

 England, who sec ruin and sacrilege in any deviation from the 

 practice of their fathers. 



The Chinese, or, to speak more properly, the Siamese hog has 

 been the main source of the variations and improvements in the 

 modern breeds of British and American swine. These hogs are 

 not large, but arc compactly built, with small limbs, thin ears, 

 thick necks, straight backs, few bristles, and with a little head so 

 adjusted to the shoulders that when the animal is fattened, the 

 whole snout except the tip looks as if it were absorbed into or 

 swallowed up by the body. The animal is easily fattened, and its 

 flesh is delicate and delicious. 



This variety of the hog, when pure and unmixed, in conse- 

 quence of its delicacy of structure and tenderness of constitution, 

 is not well adapted for countries where the climate is much colder 

 than Siam ; but it has been largly distributed throughout the In- 

 dian Archipelago and Polynesia, and many of the eastern and 

 central parts of Asia. Some specimens have been introduced in- 

 to Europe, particularly into Great Britain, and also into this coun- 

 try, during the present century, and have been instrumental in 

 correcting, to an astonishing extent, the bad properties, and im- 

 proving the good ones of the aboriginal hogs of Britain and other 

 domesticated descendants of the European wild boar, so far as 

 quantity and quality of pork are concerned. The different breeds 

 of hogs in Europe and America in this progressive age are numer- 

 ous, and in many cases possess very distinct characteristics. Each 

 particular breed has its advocates, insomuch that it is difficult to 

 say which is the best. The distinguishing marks of excellence, how- 

 ever, are generally conceded to be fineness of bone, thinness of 

 skin, fulness of head and cheek, shortness of neck, compactness 

 of body, depth and expansion of sides, breadth of breast and loins, 

 hardness of constitution, erect and thin ears, a snub-snout, a curly 

 tail, and a strong tendency of the animal at an early age to en- 

 tomb itself in its own fat. 



In one important fact all writers on the subject of pork agree 

 with wonderful unanimity, to wit : that in selecting a pig, particu- 

 lar reference should be had to the character of his tail. If it 

 droops and drags upon the ground, or sticks out straight behind 

 like the marlinspike of an " old salt," reject him at once. Ever 

 choose one which has in his tail a graceful curl or a kink like a 

 fanciful bow in the bonnet of a fashionable belle. Such a tail is 

 indicative of a strong and straight back, a kind and cheerful dis- 

 position, and a healthy state, and gives assurance ot a hog that 

 will fatten easily and make capital pork. * * « * 



