CHAPTER XVIII 
LESSER KNOWN BREEDS OF SWINE 
By G. E. Day 
584. There are certain little-known breeds or types of 
hogs that are of interest historically, or in restricted areas. 
In order to make the discussion of swine in this book more 
nearly complete, brief notes on several of these breeds are 
introduced. 
585. Historic breeds. — It is an old opinion, apparently 
well substantiated, that the English swine, from which 
the modern American types are derived, sprang from 
breeds introduced from the East, as Chinese, Neapolitan 
and Siamese pigs. Even in such a noted live-stock coun- 
try as Great Britain, the pigs of less than a century ago 
were, on the whole, a rather undesirable lot, according to 
descriptions that have been handed down to us. Long 
legs, general coarseness and slow fattening propensities 
were then commonly characteristic of British breeds. It 
is out of the question, even if it were desirable, to attempt 
to trace all the steps that led to the establishment of 
British breeds as we know them to-day, but there is no 
doubt that much of the improvement came from the in- 
troduction of foreign breeds, which were crossed on the 
native stock. Although these foreign breeds are now 
practically unknown in Great Britain and America, there 
are three breeds whose influence has been so far-reaching 
as to render them worthy of at least a passing notice. 
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