1106 



Gloucestershire Old Spots Pigs. 



[Mar., 



with a boar of the Large or Middle White breeds would give 

 similar results as to colour, form and hang of ear. This last 

 point is mentioned because it is claimed by breeders of Large 

 White and Middle White pigs that if a boar of either of these 

 breeds be mated with a coloured sow of any other breed, the 

 large majority, if not the whole, of the pigs of the resultant 

 litter will be of the colour of the sire. The two claims might 

 give rise to a discussion on the comparative powers of the 

 respective sires to influence the colour of the offspring. If it 

 be admitted that the boars of the Large White, Middle White, 

 and Gloucestershire Old Spots boars do impress their particular 

 colour or markings on their produce from sows of any other 

 breed or cross, then the claim that a spotted pig is of equally 

 pure a breed as the white pigs must be conceded, just as it is 

 generally admitted that the white pigs named are a distinct 

 breed. 



The question as to the original cause or causes of pigs of 

 differing colours being more or less confined in olden times 

 to varying districts has been a subject of keen discussion for 

 many years without any decisive results. The difficulty of 

 discovering a solution to the question has not been so great 

 with regard to pigs of whole or distinct colours, as in these 

 cases the variations may have been due to the differences in 

 the colour of the soil, the herbage, and woods and forests 

 in the different districts in which, in olden times, the pigs 

 roamed in a more or less wild state. The real difficulty arose 

 when an attempt was made to discover the cause of the peculiar 

 markings which appear to be natural to pigs of the Gloucester- 

 shire Old Spots, the Sheeted or Saddleback, etc., breeds. To 

 what we can attribute the spotted appearance of the first named 

 and the white mark over the shoulders and down the fore-leg 

 of the latter breed is not clear. Yet the peculiar markings are 

 persistent, so that it would appear that some good and sufficient 

 cause existed in the past for these markings of some breeds of 

 pigs and the whole colour of others. 



The causes of the present form, size and quality of the 

 Gloucestershire Old Spots pig appear to be much more readily 

 discovered. As in other districts, the causes have been the 

 requirements of the pig-breeders and of consumers. In some 

 portions of the County of Gloucester the elevation of the farms 

 is high, and consequently a pig of a robust nature was needed. 

 In other portions, especially in the vales, milk production is 

 largely carried on, and within comparatively recent years butter- 



