71 i Report on the Pigs Exhibited at Windsor. 
Tamworths. 
The remarkable rise and steady pi-ogress of tlie Tamwortli is 
a notable instance of th.e application of the law of supply and 
demand to swine. A few years ago many of the fashionable 
show-pigs of the country bid fair to attain the rediidio ad 
absurdiim of useless obesity. With the sole exception of 
aptitude to fatten, nearly all their points of excellence had been 
assiduously improved away. As producers of lard they were 
pre-eminent, but from the bacon-curer's point of view they were 
fast becoming impracticable. Some of the most influential 
bacon-curers began to publicly protest, and as a result farmers 
soon realised that their pigs must have more lean, and that the 
heavy fore-end and short face which they had been developing 
with so much pains were a fault and not a virtue. At this 
juncture the Tamworth came opportunely to the fore. The red 
breed of Northamptonshire had existed in the county from time 
immemorial, but it had escaped the wave of improvement which 
had transformed so many other local breeds. It will surprise 
some people to learn that at the Northampton Show of 1847 a 
Tamworth sow took first prize, beating the Berkshire, improved 
Essex, and other breeds. But this was exceptional, and the 
breed was very little known out of its immediate district 
until about 1882. At the Shrewsbury Show of 1884, Mr. G. M. 
Allender took all the prizes in the classes for " other distinct 
breeds " with his Tamworths. Since then they have made rapid 
strides in favour both with breeders and buyers, and since 1885 
have enjoyed the distinction of separate classes at the Royal Show. 
Mr. Allender, in a recent interesting article on this breed, 
pats in a nutshell the reason of their present value. He 
remarks that " by good fortune the Tamworth was not crossed 
with the Chinese, and now that the breeds which were produced 
by the admixture of Chinese blood have been condemned by the 
bacon-curer as carrying an excess of fat, this old, lean-fleshed 
breed will, I think, be as useful for a cross, in a contrary direction, 
as the Chinese pig undoubtedly was some half-century ago." 
There were forty-five entries of Tamworths at Windsor, being 
the largest display in any section except the Berkshires. The 
Judges remark on the diversity of type which is commonly 
characteristic of all breeds at the commencement of their show- 
yard career. The gradations of colour from a deep rich red to 
a dull brick-dust tint, and even to a dark slate colour, were very 
noticeable. The prizes were won by Messrs. W. H. Mitchell, 
T. Watson, Robert Ibbotson, R. N. Sutton-Nelthorpe and 
E. D. de Hamel. 
