206 
Pigs : their Breeding and Management. 
From the following Table will be seen the astounding increase 
in our imports of swine's flesh :• — - 
1840. 
1879. 
Weight. 
ValUG. 
Weight. 
Vahie. 
Bacon and Hams 
Cwts. 
6,180 
£ 
14,657 
Cvvts. 
4,917,631 
£ 
8,880,223 
Bacon and Hams. 
Pork {Salt, 1810) 
29,532 
58,818 
414,209 
691,362 
Pork (Frcs7t, 1879). 
92 
( Value not l 
\ published j 
840,819 
1,420,881 
Lard. 
Total value . . 
£73,475 
.. 
£10,992,400 
The import of live pigs has not increased in anything approach- 
ing the same proportion as that of other animals. In 1860 the 
numbers were 24,479, and in 1880 they reached 51,030, whilst 
in 1872 only 16,100 were imported, and 20,037 in 1877. The 
highest number reached was in 1865, when the numbers were 
133,280. 
In the supply of animal food for the nation one element of 
no little importance is, that owing to the fecundity and the 
early maturity of the pig th(; supply can be far more rapidly 
increased than is the case with any other description of animal 
food. A further economical view of the matter is that in no 
other animal is there so small an amount of waste, every particle 
in some way or other being utilised, and several portions which 
in other animals are treated as offal are used as articles of 
food. 
Some twenty years ago I was induced to turn my attention to 
the breeding of pigs through an accidental circumstance. The 
editor of an agricultural newspaper — a famous critic in his day 
— paid a visit to the Bedfordshire Agricultural Show ; in his 
report of the Meeting, the cattle, sheep, and horses bred in the 
county were extolled, but it was remarked that the Bedfordshire 
farmers were evidently far behind many other counties in pigs. 
Upon reading this report I at once determined to wipe away 
the reproach from my native county ; accordingly I commenced 
by purchasing two sows and a boar from the far-famed herd 
of Mr. Wainman, of Carrhead, Yorkshire — from which, and 
a young boar I subsequently selected from a first-prize pen of 
the late Mr. Duckering, my present herd is chiefly descended. 
During the past forty or fifty years it may be said that the 
various breeds of pigs throughout the United Kingdom have 
undergone a complete transformation. Originating, accordin 
