THE BERKSHIRE 



481 



Berkshire on the Chester White female is productive of a better 

 feeder than the sire, with a class of pork superior to that of the 

 dam. The great value of the Berkshire in crossing is amply 

 demonstrated from the fact that the blood of the breed has been 

 used to improve that of other breeds for over a century, and no 

 doubt has done much to help the most prominent breeds of 

 to-day in their early stages. Sidney states that Fisher Hobbs, 

 who did much in improving British pigs, used the Berkshire as 

 a cross on his Essex pigs, and thereby size and condition were 

 materially affected. In fact, so strong was the Berkshire influ- 

 ence that some twenty-eight years after the cross was made some 



Fig. 226. Three pure-bred Berkshires, the pen of grand-champion barrows 

 over all pure-breds, grades, and crosses at the International Live Stock 

 Exposition, Chicago, 1905. Bred and exhibited by the Ohio State Uni- 

 versity. Photograph by the author 



of the young Essex reverted to their alien ancestor, and were, in 

 reality, exact types of the true Berkshire pig. Mr. W. H. Wykes, 

 an experienced breeder, according to Long, finds that the best 

 crosses are made by the Berkshire on the Black Suffolk and the 

 Tamworth. The value of the Berkshire boar in grading up a herd 

 is unquestioned. Feeders of such blood always command the 

 top market price in America. 



The fecundity and prolificacy of the Berkshire is of a fair degree 

 of merit. An extensive study of the relative prolificacy of three 

 breeds of swine (the Berkshire, Poland-China, and Chester White) 

 by Dr. A. W. Bitting shows that the average size of 400 Berk- 

 shire litters was 8.22 pigs, while 600 Chester White litters 

 averaged 8.96 pigs and 1086 Poland-China litters averaged 

 7.45. These records were based on herdbook figures of sizes 



