CHAPTER LXIX 



THE CHESTER WHITE 



The native home of the Chester White breed of swine is in ex- 

 treme southeastern Pennsylvania, in Chester and Delaware Counties. 

 Geographically these two counties lie between 75° and 76° west 

 longitude, and 40° north latitude passes through each county. 

 Litde Delaware County borders the river of that name, the city of 

 Philadelphia is close by, while bordering Delaware on the west 

 lies the much larger county of Chester. The region is crossed by 

 numerous streams of fine water, the land is rolling and, as a rule, 

 fertile. Heavy crops of the small cereals, Indian corn, and grass 

 are grown here. Joining Chester County on the west is Lancaster 

 County, one of the richest and most productive agricultural counties 

 in all the United States. 



The original type of Chester White pig first became prominent 

 in Chester County. Long ago there existed in both Chester and 

 Delaware counties a large, coarse, white pig. It has even been 

 assumed that the original stock of this sort came over with the 

 early colonists, possibly at the time of William Penn. Captain 

 James Jeffries of Westchester, Pennsylvania, in a voyage to Eng- 

 land early in the last century (1820), secured a pair of white pigs, 

 male and female, from Bedford County, England. These pigs 

 have been referred to both as Bedfordshire and Cumberland breeds, 

 though the former is the usually accepted title. The boar, which 

 was retained by Captain Jeffries, had been a prize winner in England 

 and, used on the old white type in Pennsylvania, had a distinctly 

 refining influence. This Jeffries boar was white, though he had 

 bluish or blackish skin spots, a broad back, excellent hams, short 

 legs, and a refined head with droopy ears. Following the Jeffries 

 importation, Harvey Atwood of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, 

 imported some white Chinese stock from England. This was a 

 sway-backed sort, with short legs, short face, droopy ears, and 

 having black, blue, and sandy spots in the hair, and possessing 

 Digitized byj^crosoft® 



