1922.] 



present importance in the pig breeding world is perhaps quite 

 equal to that of the I^arge White breed. Probably the omission 

 for some years of a separate class for pigs of the Middle White 

 breed was due to the fact that until the formation of the National 

 Pig Breeders' Association some forty-seven. years ago, to register 

 the pedigrees of Small, Middle and Large Whites, Small Blacks, 

 and Berkshires, which at that period were the only British breeds 

 of pigs of any importance, there had not been any sufficient 

 attempt made to keep the three first-named breeds distinct. In 

 the minds of far too many people the Middle White pig was one 

 which, mainly from its size, could not be classed as a Small or 

 a Large White. For this error there was sufficient excuse, on 

 account of the far too common system of intermixing the types 

 and then selecting for exhibition in the different classes those pigs 

 which at the time were considered the more nearly to comply 

 with the regulation size and points of the particular breed for 

 which the prizes were offered. The absence of a fair and sufficient 

 representation of breeders of pigs on the Councils of the Royal 

 Agricultural and other Societies has also been alleged to have 

 been the principal cause of the admitted neglect of the pig, 

 whose presence in the show yards was, in the past, looked upon 

 as a necessary nuisance. The want of prescience on the part of 

 those who formerly failed to encourage the exhibition of Middle 

 White pigs has been most clearly proved at one or two of the 

 recent shows of the Royal Agricultural Society, where the 

 exhibits of Middle White pigs ranked with those of Berkshires and 

 Large Whites, whilst two other breeds which in the eighties of 

 the last century were considered to be worthy of separate classes, 

 have both died natural deaths. 



The extinction of the Small White and the Small Black breeds 

 and the great improvement in pigs of the Berkshire breed during 

 the past forty years have together proved that the breeders of 

 pigs have given considerably more attention to the commercial 

 points of the pig without seriously affecting its exhibition value. 

 At the same time we are compelled to admit that there still 

 exists room for improvement in the proportion of lean to fat 

 meat, in the prolificacy of the sows and in their ability to rear 

 large and vigorous litters of pigs. We do not mention these 

 weaknesses as having special application to pigs of the Middle 

 White breed, as the pork from thoin ranks high on the market, 

 whilst the sows are specially noted for their marked ability to 

 produce and to rear large litters of strong and healthy pigs.. 



