712 lieporl on the Pigs Exhibited at Windsor. 
Olvss 251. Sow Pif/s. — FxRsi and Seco>^d Prize pans (Mr. C. E. 
Duckering and Mr. E. T. Chalk respectively). Very good, and a close com- 
Eetition between tlie two. One pen in this Class would have been placed, 
nt we considered they showed too much large breed. Two pens in this 
Class were disqualiQed — the only two in our department. 
Small AVhite Breed t 
Class 252. Boars farroioed in 1888. — A very bad Class. 
Class 253. Boar Pigs. — Small competition ; nothing worthy of note in 
the Class. 
Class 254. Breeding Sotos. — First and Second Prize sows (both Hon. 
Mrs. Meynell Ingram's). Very good and true in character. 
Class 255. Sow Pigs. — Only three pens shown ; the First Prize very 
good. 
We were disappointed not to find a larger and better show in our 
department, which falls much short of former years. 
John Angus. 
John Barron. 
Thomas M. Beswick-Rotds. 
Berkshires. 
The earlier writers on British live stock persistently de- 
scribed Berkshire pigs as — in the words of CuUey — of " a 
reddish colour with black spots upon them," whence it has 
been assumed that Berkshires and Tamworths had a common 
origin. There is no doubt that a tawny or red breed existed in 
the county of Berkshire, and that it has been supplanted by, and 
perhaps assimilated with, the black bi'eed as we now know it. 
The Secretary of the British Berkshire Society insists, however, 
that there has been from time immemorial a kind of " inner 
circle " of breeders, who kept what were the true progenitors 
of the present Berkshires. He claims to trace back at least 
seventy years, and to find that the real Berkshires were at that 
time black with white points, just as at present — viz. a dash of 
white on the face, four white feet, a white tip to the tail, 
generally a few hairs on one or both of the elbows, and a patch 
somewhere under the throat. He says that the Chinese and 
Neapolitan pigs were tried by some breeders for crossing, but 
that they failed to effect any improvement, and were not there- 
fore generally introduced. This contention is virtually endorsed 
by Mr. Spearing in his report of the farming of Berkshire.' He 
says that some few breeders sought to improve the Berkshire pigs 
by crossing them with the Suffolk, Sussex, and other breeds, but 
that although the process answered temporarily its effects died out. 
He himself tried the cross, but returned to the " real Berkshire." 
' Journal, Vol. XXT. 1st Series (1860), p. 37. 
