Tour in England—Berkshires* 
72 
lest of nurses, of thrifty growth, early maturity, 
easily kept on grass, the coarsest roots, or bran 
and brewers grain, and toill fatten at any age. 
Their dispositions also are very quiet, unless 
roused to a fight, and then like all well bred 
animals, are game to the back bone. 
Their powers of endurance are very great, and 
nothing in England can travel with them of 
the hog kind, as has been often proved in 
driving the different stocks to fairs and markets, 
side by side. We took great pains to obtain 
evidence on this important point to the western 
farmer while abroad, Joined to all the above 
good qualities, their meat is of the best kind, 
the hams, shoulders, and jowls, being lean, 
muscular and delicate, while the side pork is 
very fat, and cuts clear of lean as the Chinese, 
thus making the heaviest mess pork for barrel¬ 
ing, and such as is most preferred at the eastern 
markets. We saw hundreds of bacon sides in 
England, and since our return to America, have 
frequently witnessed the cutting up of Berk- 
sliires where the fact of their making clear 
pork was disputed at the packing houses of 
Cincinnati and other parts of Ohio. Again, 
notwithstanding their dark color, whether their 
hair be singed off by burning as is usually 
practiced in Great Britain, or scalded as in the 
United States, the skin dresses of the purest 
and most delicate white, and nothing in the 
slightest degree dark can be detected at all in 
it but the roots of the hair, to which the most 
fastidious stickler for white in a pig’s skin can¬ 
not object. 
We found the Berkshires more sought after 
in England than any other kind of swine; they 
were not only taking them into Scotland and 
Ireland, but France, Germany, and other parts 
of Europe, and the British colonies in every 
direction, not even excepting Australia, some 
8,000 miles distant from the father land. 
They are freer from disease than any animal 
we know of, and are never cursed with that 
sickening scabbiness of the skin, that character¬ 
izes so many other breeds. 
In breeding, those of medium sizes and fine 
points are most sought after in England. Ten 
to fifteen score (200 to 300 lbs.) are the maxi¬ 
mum weights desired in Berkshire, and we 
were often told there, that they considered these 
the best and most profitable sizes for them. 
From this opinion, many breeders in our coun¬ 
try dissent entirely, and though we would gen¬ 
erally recommend those of a medium size to be 
wintered over, still if a spring pig will fatten 
kindly as he is growing, and can be made to 
attain 250 to 300 lbs. by the following Decem¬ 
ber, it saves wintering, and may be considered 
upon the whole the most profitable breed. It 
is contended that the largest and finest Berk¬ 
shires will easily do this, and several breeders 
have now commenced a series of experiments 
with the produce of our late importation, for 
the purpose of testing whether it can be done, 
and we are promised a full report of the trials 
as soon as completed. 
All colors exist in Berkshire, stragglers oc¬ 
casionally finding their way in there, but they 
are not recognized as their breed at all, the 
true sort being of a black, or deep rich plumb 
color, with a slight flicking of buff or white on 
them, the feet generally white, with a small 
white strip in the face, and frequently a white 
tuft at the end of the tail. White hogs exist in 
considerable numbers in the neighborhood of 
Windsor, of tolerable fair quality. They are 
called old King George’s breed, and are said 
to be the descendants of some Leicesters given 
the late George III. by the celebrated Bake- 
well, for the purpose of stocking his Majesty’s 
farm near by. They are now much deteriora¬ 
ted in breeding, and totally unworthy, in our 
judgment, an importation. 
Great care is requisite in purchasing Berk¬ 
shire hogs, especially on the borders of the 
county, as the Neapolitan, Hampshire, Wilt¬ 
shire, and various other crosses exist, that none 
but the best judges in breeding can detect, and 
many of the farmers are exceedingly careless 
in their selections and stock animals, and some 
are totally indifferent whether they are pure 
blood or not. As to their cost, this is according 
to fancy in a measure. Those who had taken 
particular pains in their selections and breeding, 
for picked stock asked high prices. All sorts 
of meats are at present scarce, and very high in 
England. Good pork was worth 12 to 14 cts. 
per pound when we were there, and the poorest 
pig of any breed, two to three months old, would 
bring in market as a stock animal, $4 to $8 
each. Two years ago, they were not worth 
half that. But the first cost is nothing in com¬ 
parison with other expenses, which are almost 
innumerable; we will merely state one item. 
By the London packet ship Mediator, we ship¬ 
ped two grown animals and eighteen small 
ones, about three months old. Mr. Whyte’s 
bill of feed alone for these was 34 1. 1. 6, which 
at the then rate of exchange, amounted to over 
$160. To be sure, we were liberal in laying 
in sixty days supplies for the stock, as we had 
no idea of paying a high price for animals, and 
then have them starved to death on the voyage. 
As near as we could estimate the cost of four 
months’ pigs, including accidents and deaths, 
laid down in this city, it amounted to about $50 
per head, without reckoning any thing of our 
time employed in the selections, so that the rea¬ 
der will see that there can be no very great, 
profit in importing Berkshires, at the prices we 
