248 The Agricultural Features of the Paris Exhibition. 
French Swine. 
Since the beginning of the present century the stock of swine 
in France has increased bj one-third, or from four to six million 
head. All over France pigs were formerly allowed to run about 
and pick up their food as best they could, in the fields and in the 
woods ; but during the past thirty years a great deal more at- 
tention has been bestowed upon them. More care and selection 
have been evinced in breeding, and in some parts house-feeding 
has become quite general. English boars, principally of the 
Berkshire, New Leicester, and Yorkshire breeds, have for several 
years been used extensively with most satisfactory results, and, 
altogether, the raising of pork in France has assumed a very 
different magnitude from what it had half a century ago. 
In the French Section there were over 250 swine, the large 
majority being either pure specimens of English breeds or 
crosses between English and French. The more important 
F"rench breeds represented were the Norman, the Craon- 
nais, tlie Bressan, the Lorraine, the Limousin, and the Bour- 
bonnais. Of the two first mentioned, a few very good pigs were 
shown; but, with these exceptions, the display of French native 
pigs was not very fine. As a rule, they were ill-shaped animals, 
much too big in the bone, too narrow in the frame, and 
showed too much offal for the quantity of pork. Their heads 
were long and coarse, their legs long, strong, and rough ; indeed, 
the remark of an expert in regard to one lot might have truly 
> enough been applied to the large majority : " Cut off the rough 
parts and you have little left." It may be true, as is asserted, 
that these indigenous breeds have been greatly improved during 
the past thirty years ; but they are still so inferior that we do 
not think any of them, without further amelioration, would re- 
munerate liberal feeding, such as is extended to pigs in England. 
It was clearly demonstrated in the Cross-bred Section that 
these native swine produce very good stock when mated with 
English sires ; and there is little doubt that the highly credit- 
able appearance made by these crosses will result in the more 
extensive use of improved and imported sires. Specimens of 
crosses from the Berkshire, Yorkshire, Essex, Windsor, New 
Leicester, and Suffolk breeds were shown ; the more success- 
ful being the Yorkshire-Norman, the Yorkshire-Craonnais, 
the Yorkshire-Picard, the Berkshire-Craonnais ; and the New 
Leicester-Craonnais. A comparison between the pure French 
races and these crosses showed a wonderful improvement, par- 
ticularly in regard to fineness of bone, breadth of frame, and 
wealth and (|uality of flesh in proportion to the size of bone and 
offal. The display of pure-bred English pigs by French breeders 
