276 



The Large White Pig. 



[June, 



In the sixties and early seventies the favourite system of 

 mating was to select a thick fleshed boar of small size and with 

 a short head, and to mate it with a sow of the largest size, 

 possessing quality of bone, flesh and hair, a short face, and 

 heavy jowls. As a rule there would not be the variation in size 

 of the young pigs that might be anticipated, although later in 

 life there might be a great difference in their development. 

 The main reasons for this mode of procedure, which might not 

 commend itself to pig breeders of the present day, were, that 

 the fashionable pig of the period was one with a short head; 

 that the wording of the prize schedules was usually " For the 

 best white pig not exceeding certain fixed ages " ; that the most 

 popular pig classes were those for pigs not exceeding six or nine 

 months old ; that prize winning pigs in the classes for young 

 pigs were always in great demand at good prices from agents 

 and exhibitors at the Eoyal and other large shows; that those 

 pigs not required for breeding could be readily made fit for 

 slaughter either as fresh pork or as baconeis as soon as the 

 weather became cold enough ; that as a rule the young pigs, the 

 result of mating a small and compact boar with a large sow, 

 possessed the outward appearance and character of the sire and 

 also acquired the quick growth of the dam, and thus had a great 

 advantage when shown in the classes for small white pigs, which 

 then were probably the most fashionable type of pig and most 

 readily sold at the highest prices. 



It may appear strange to pig breeders of the present day that 

 exhibitors of pigs should purchase at high prices pigs of such 

 uncertain breeding which were almost sure to develop unevenly, 

 but the conditions were quite different half a century ago from 

 those existing to-day. In the first place there was no fixed type 

 or qualification for Small, Middle or Large Yorkshires, as they 

 were then termed. The pigs of all three breeds were supposed 

 to have short heads ; this was imperative with Smalls and Middles 

 and almost universal amongst Large Yorkshires. 



Mere size at the time of exhibition was the determining 

 factor as to classification, so that it was possible for 

 a white pig to pass and win as a Small Yorkshire 

 when young and to develop so as to qualify subsequently 

 for exhibition as a Middle White (or, as they were 

 classified at the Eoyal Agricultural Society's show, as " a pig of 

 any breed other than Berkshire, Small Black, Small Yorkshire, 

 or Large Yorkshire "). Indeed it was declared that one pig was 

 actually exhibited in all the three classes for W^hite Yorkshires 



