1876.1 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
213 
Large White Pigs. 
The distribution of the different classes of pigs, 
both as regards color and size, would be a curious 
and interesting study. When the main object is 
pork, bacon, or hauis, and their most economical 
production, it would seem 
that there must of neces¬ 
sity be one class of pigs 
that would meet these 
wants most completely, 
and which would oust all 
others from the competi¬ 
tion. But instead of this 
being the case, we have, 
on the contrary, a seem¬ 
ingly most varied opinion 
as to which is the most 
profitable size of pig, and 
a most inconstant fashion 
as to color. It has long 
been considered that the 
black pigs were the best 
for the Southern States, 
as they most easily resist¬ 
ed the ill effects of the 
hot sun, and if it is true, 
as has been authoritative¬ 
ly stated,that they can for¬ 
age with impunity upon 
some of the common wild 
plants, which are fatal to 
the white pigs, we have a 
still more satisfactory rea¬ 
son for this popular pre¬ 
ference. But in the north 
the taste has very largely run to the white breeds, 
and we have many excellent varieties so nearly re¬ 
lated in character, that it would be entirely safe to 
abandon all distinctions between them, excepting 
as to size, and to class them, as is now done in 
England, as the large and small white breeds. It 
would puzzle the most acute judge of swine to 
distinguish some small Yorkshires from some Suf- 
folks, or to state so clearly that the wayfaring man 
could not be misled, wherein they differ; or to dis¬ 
tinguish in the same way between the large York¬ 
shire, the improved Cheshire, the Jefferson County, 
or some of the Chester White swine. At the fairs, 
one has to hunt up the show-cards or the catalogue 
to discover the name given 
to the different animals, 
and it is not always cer¬ 
tain to be one that meets 
the approbation of an ex¬ 
pert in swine. The snub, 
reiroussd nose of the York¬ 
shire is at home in the 
pen of the well fattened 
Cheshire, and the Chester 
White has the droop¬ 
ing ears as frequently as 
otherwise. Whether or 
not it would not both 
simply expedite and justi¬ 
fy matters for the com¬ 
mittees at the fairs to 
abolish all other distinc¬ 
tions than that here sug¬ 
gested, is a question we 
think worth attention. 
“Large white breed” 
is significant enough, and 
if the good points of each 
of the different varieties 
were summed up, it would 
be hard to find one that 
was not claimed by all of 
them, nor one fault that 
was not repudiated. Our 
illustration represents model large white pigs, 
and we would be content to leave those of our 
readers who are prejudiced in favor of any one 
special variety of this class of pigs, to say if this is 
not a good representation of what they claim their 
favorite breed to be. Without doubt, the large 
white breeds are profitable pigs. They are prolific 
and good nurses, good feeders, hardy, and if 
they do not arrive at profitable maturity as 
soon as the small breeds, yet they will make 
an amazing quantity of pork from a bountiful 
supply of corn. As a manufacturer of bulky 
corn into readily movable and merchantable pro¬ 
duct, there is nothing better, and perhaps nothing 
The Berkshire Swine. 
Eig. 1.—LAKGE WHITE PIGS. 
equal to them, unless it be the deservedly popular 
Poland-China of the Western States. What was the 
origin of the larger white breeds, is lost in obscuri¬ 
ty. Probably the “ old English hog,” which, being- 
found most numerously in the two larger counties 
of England, Yorkshire and Lancashire, became 
more especially identified with these names, and 
were in later years known as either or both the 
Yorkshire and Lancashire hogs, was the original 
progenitor of all our large white breeds. At any 
rate, what is known as the large Yorkshire, is so 
much like the pigs here illustrated, that if they be 
not in fact the same, they may well be accepted as 
very near relatives. They are, in fact, portraits of 
a pair of “large white pigs,” only so designated, 
bred by the Earl of Ellsmere, Wofsl'ey, England. 
And in this age of improvement, when a “ dash of 
new blood” is considered useful or necessary to 
make certain desired points to perfect a hog, and 
breeds become rather mixed, this designation 
would seem to be sufficient for all purposes. 
Decidedly the most popular breed of swine of the 
present day, is the Berkshire. That it is black in 
color, is only an objection to those who form their 
opinions from prejudice rather than from knowl¬ 
edge, as the color is not 
even “skin deep,” and a 
Berkshire ham, or side of 
bacon, when freed from 
hair, is not to be distin¬ 
guished from the same 
parts of a white pig. The 
Berkshire is not classed 
amongst the large breeds, 
nor can it be placed 
amongst the small breeds. 
In this respect it holds an 
intermediate place, though 
specimens occasionally 
reach a very respectable 
size, and compete favora¬ 
bly with the heaviest 
swine. No breed has un¬ 
dergone a more elaborate 
process of improvement 
than the Berkshire. Origi¬ 
nally of a tawny or red¬ 
dish sandy color, spotted 
with black, with large lop 
ears, hanging down over 
the eyes, and coarse in 
form and feature, the 
breed has been brought to 
a nearly entirely black 
color, the face, tail, and 
feet, only,being in small part spotted with white. The 
form has been refined and filled out, the bone also 
refined, the shoulders and hams rounded and broad¬ 
ened, and the sides deepened, until no more hand¬ 
some bacon swine now exist than these. The ears 
arc pricked and much lessened in size, as may be 
seen by our illustration (fig. 2), which is from the 
London Field, and represents a choice specimen of 
the modern highly improved Berkshire pig. This 
animal leaves nothing to be desired in the way of a 
profitable pig, either for a farmer, or a feeder who 
keeps but one or two animals for his home supply 
of hams and bacon. The most conspicious rem¬ 
nant of the old fashioned Berkshire, left in its 
modern relative, is the 
pinkish hue of the 6kin, 
which distinguishes it 
readily from the other 
black breeds, such as the 
Essex or the black Suffolk. 
Originally there were two 
distinct varieties of this 
breed, that which was 
wholly white, and that 
which was principally 
black. The white Berk- 
shires we have not seen 
of late, nor at all in the 
United States, having 
seen but a few of them 
some years ago in the 
yards of a Canadian breed¬ 
er, who imported them. 
These were known as 
the Windsor breed, and, 
with the Coleshill, an¬ 
other white variety, still 
exist in England. It is, 
as a black breed only, 
that we know the Berk¬ 
shire. The chief points of 
the breed are as follows : 
a moderately short head, 
dished face, nose straight 
and not turned up, as in some small breeds, 
ears generally pricked, although drooping ears, 
while not desirable, arc not incompatible with pu¬ 
rity of blood , color black, with purplish tinge, and 
not a dead black like that of the Essex, sometimes 
the color shows a slaty-bluish tinge, doubtless de¬ 
rived from crossing with the Neapolitan. The eyes 
