THE CHESHIRE 517 



station also showed more food required for the growth of the 

 Cheshire than for that of other breeds. 



The fecundity of the Cheshire is above medium, the sows breed- 

 ing readily and producing fairly^. large litters, especially as com- 

 monly fed in the eastern states. 



The Cheshire as a grazer is not well known, for it has been in 

 the main a stye-fed breed. It should, however, do well on good 

 pastures. Shaw credits the breed with fair grazing qualities. The 

 fact that the Cheshire has never secured much of a hold in the 

 great swine-producing sections of our country, although intro- 

 duced there, would argue that it had not satisfactorily adapted 

 itself to western conditions. 



The Cheshire Swine Breeders' Association, organized in 1884 in 

 New York State, promotes the purity and welfare of this breed. 

 The association published its first volume of a herd record in 

 1889, , since which three others have been issued up to and 

 including 1906. 



The distribution of the Cheshire pig is mainly in the eastern 

 United States, with New York the leading state interested in the 

 breed. Herds are also owned in the New England states, Penn- 

 sylvania, Ohio, and elsewhere, though in but a slight degree. 



The popularity of the Cheshire is distinctly local, it being one 

 of the least-known breeds in America, being rarely seen on the 

 market or at agricultural fairs west of New York. The late 

 S. M. Shepard, a well-known western judge and authority on 

 swine, states that following the exhibit of Clark at St. Louis in 

 1870 the breed did not gain much in favor beyond the state of 

 its origin. 



