Report on Live-Stoch at Carlisle. 
653 
and some well-grown Devon Longwools, preferred by the Judges, 
and forwarded by Messrs. William and George Bird, of Volis, 
Kingston, Taunton, concerning which the Judges thus briefly 
write : — 
Classes 150, IHl. — Both these classes were short of entries, but the prize- 
winners were good specimens of their breed. 
Class 152. — Only one eutry. 
James Selmes. 
William Thos. Gaene. 
PIGS. 
Artificial treatment, confinement, and forcing feeding, in- 
tensified by showyard competition, render the exhibition-pig a 
machine for the manufacture of lard rather than of profitable 
bacon or pork. Lard, instead of being from 18 to 20 per cent, 
of the carcass, is enormously increased ; the fat, indeed, is as 
ten to one of the lean ; the offal has been curiously and wonder- 
fully reduced. In their fancy form, over-burdened with fat, 
many show-animals run risk of being improved out of existence. 
Their reproductive powers are impaired ; the Judges remark, 
"scarcely any of the sows have litters of pigs," and progeny, 
when obtained from such over-fed animals, are usually few in 
number, small, weakly, and difficult to rear. It cannot be pro- 
fitable to breed pigs whose heads, brains, and even mouths are 
dwarfed, whose legs with difficulty carry them, and who have 
neither the capacity nor the power to forage for food. From 
inordinate obesity the small breeds suffer most, constitution 
and hair are lost, symmetry is impaired, the fore-quarters 
become more developed than the hind. Judges of pigs at the 
great shows have need to make a stand against such artificial 
treatment and excessive feeding and tendency to monstrosity, 
and, whilst insisting on early maturity and fatting capacity,, 
give due regard to constitution and general usefulness. 
Mr. J. D. Dent, the Steward of Pigs, having been good 
enough to contribute the following instructive account of this 
department, further remarks of mine are unnecessary. 
It was at Worcester, in the year 1863, that I first made 
acquaintance with the pigs exhibited in the Royal Agricultural 
Society's Showyard, and commenced my duties as a Steward of 
Live Stock. During the seventeen years which have passed 
away we have had two visitations of cattle plague, and a scries 
of seasons almost unexampled in their severity ; but the Royal 
Show still holds its own, and though death has taken from 
amongst us many of the friends I made in those pleasant times, 
I still find some of my old associates in harness, and familiar 
