5o6 THE PIG 



in Kentucky and Virginia. These had erect ears and were of a 

 red color. 



The Berkshire as a source of red swine early occupied a place 

 of prominence. Half a century ago Berkshires were more or less 

 red in color, and the breed had been imported for many years 

 even then. Eminent authorities think that much of the Duroc- 

 Jersey pig is descended from the sandy-colored Berkshire. 



The Jersey Red breed of pigs was for many years a favorite 

 one in New Jersey and the East. They were very large and 

 coarse, weights of 500 to 600 pounds being common, with speci- 

 mens exceeding 1000 pounds. In reporting on this breed to the 

 National Swine Breeders' Convention in 1872, Colonel F. D. 

 Curtis stated that D. M. Brown of Windsor, New Jersey, had 

 known of them back to nearly 1832. In neighborhoods they 

 were bred very uniformly, the color usually being a dark red, 

 although in some sections they were light, sandy, and often 

 "patched with white." 



The characteristics of the Jersey Red as agreed upon by the 

 National Swine Breeders' Convention in 1872 were as follows: 



A good specimen of a Jersey Red should be red in color, with a snout of 

 moderate length, large lop ears, small head in proportion to size and length 

 of body. They should be long in the body, standing high and rang^ on their 

 legs ; bone coarse, hairy tail and brush, and hair coarse, inclining to bristles 

 on the back. They are valuable on- account of their size and strong con- 

 stitution and capacity for growth. They are not subject to mange. 



About 1870 Joseph B. Lyman, then agricultural editor of the 

 New York Tribune, it is said first named the breed Jersey Reds. 

 Previous to this period they had been commonly called Red 

 hogs and Durocs. In recent years this breed as described has 

 become insignificant and has relapsed into obscurity. 



The Duroc breed of red pigs is said to have been established 

 by Isaac Frink of Milton, Saratoga County, New York. In 1823 

 he obtained a red boar pig from a litter of ten, the product of a 

 pair of red pigs purchased in 1822 by Harry Kelsey of Florida, 

 New York, from persons either at Oyster Bay, Queens County, 

 New York, or imported from England, concerning which point 

 there is doubt. Mr. Kelsey owned the famous stallion Duroc, 

 and the pigs in question were known simply as red pigs. 



