1872.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Glamorgan Cattle. 
The once prominent and favorite Glamorgan 
race of cattle is fast disappearing; in fact, it 
may be considered as already extinct, for it is 
said that to procure a pure-bred bull would now 
be an impossibility. Its day drew to a close as 
that of the Shorthorn dawned. Its character 
and history, how¬ 
ever, are both in¬ 
teresting. The well- 
known dairy trade¬ 
mark “Welsh tubs” 
had its origin iu 
connection with 
these cattle, and 
was brought hither 
by the Welsh farm¬ 
ers who were driven 
from their occupa¬ 
tions in their native 
country by the ad¬ 
vance of iron and 
coal mining and 
smelting of iron and 
copper oi'es, at and 
around the. well- 
known towns of 
Swansea and Mer¬ 
thyr - Tydvil, and 
who consequently 
emigrated to the 
United States. The 
Glamorgan cattle were noted for the ex¬ 
cellence and quantity of the cream they 
furnished, and “Welsh tubs” were highly 
thought of in the English markets. These 
cattle were one of the very ancient races whose 
origin was matter of tradition only; and were, 
when in their prime, jealously guarded by the 
Welshmen from admixture with other bree’ds. 
In size, they w r ere classed amongst the large 
breeds. Their color was a rich brownish red, 
with a peculiar white stripe along the back and 
on the belly. Amongst the bulls, black very 
often replaced the brown color. The skin was 
a rich orange-yellow, the horns small, fine, a 
little curved to¬ 
wards the points, 
heads fine, neck 
tapering, and the 
carcase fatted on 
grass yielded from 
800 to 1,200 pounds 
of choice beef. 
Probably this race 
reached its prime 
sixty years ago, and 
necessarily receded 
as agriculture began 
to advance from 
that period, and 
stall and grain feed¬ 
ing took the place 
of grazing. It was 
found then more 
profitable to feed 
Shorthorn steers, 
which would on the 
same food produce 
one half more beef. 
The finishing stroke 
came when the previously flourishing meadows 
■were torn up by mines and roads and covered 
with great heaps of refuse from furnaces, and 
the few remaining dairies became completely 
broken up. As a race which has passed its point 
of usefulness it has almost disappeared, and will 
soon be forgotten, and exist only in the records 
of the past. However, it is quite probable that 
to the influence o£ this race the present excel¬ 
lence of the cheese dairies of Gloucester, an ad¬ 
joining county in England, is due, for the Glou¬ 
cester cows show a striking relationship to the 
ancient Glamorgans, but they too are also pass- 
GLAMORGAN CATTLE. 
matters, improvement makes short work with 
anything that stands in the way, and when once 
it has reached that point that it no longer 
“ pays,” place must be given to something new. 
The engraving is redrawn from one of a series 
of admirable cattle portraits by Mr. Harrison 
Wier recently published by the “London Field.” 
The Neapolitan Pig of Sorrento. 
BT A. B. ALLEN. 
The Peninsula of Sorrento, forming the 
southern boundary of the Bay of Naples, in 
NEAPOLITAN BOAR AND SOW. 
Italy, is one of the loveliest and most favored 
spots on earth. It abounds with delicious tro¬ 
pical fruits, and grain and vegetables of a su¬ 
perior kind. But among its rare and varied 
products, perhaps nothing excels in its way 
their justly celebrated breed of pigs. These 
animals pass under the general name of Nea¬ 
politan throughout Italy, and are said to have 
been perfected in the same way as the equally 
celebrated Berkshires were in England—that is, 
by a cross of the black or rather dark-colored 
Siamese or Tonguay boar on the large, coarse 
females of the country. But the Berkshires, vary¬ 
ing from the former in possessing a much greater 
proportion of lean meat to fat, give in their 
produce the finely 
marbled, lean, ten¬ 
der, juicy hams and 
bacon so much 
sought after; while 
the Neapolitan pig 
abounds in pork of 
the delicacy and fla¬ 
vor of a well-fed six- 
months-old chicken. 
The Neapolitan 
pig attains about 
the same weight 
full-grown as the 
Berkshire; but is 
generally longer in 
the barrel, thinner 
in the hams, shoul¬ 
ders, and face, with 
a more peaked nose, 
and ears turning 
forward rather than 
pricked up — thus 
giving him a more 
rangy style than any 
other of the improved breeds. His bones 
and limbs are very fine, and smoothly 
rounded off with an uncommon fullness and 
delicacy of flesh. His color is a pure dark 
slate, and he is almost entirely destitute of hair. 
These are the general characteristics of the pre¬ 
sent fashionable style of breeding. Some of the 
pigs, however, differ a little from this descrip¬ 
tion, in having a shorter nose and fuller face, 
and they are occasionally seen with pricked- 
up ears, like their male ancestor the Siamese. 
Traveling north of Naples, the pigs become 
coarser, and show more hair. Some are of a 
nearly black color instead of«*slate; others have 
large dark-colored 
spots on them, al¬ 
ternated with a 
dirty white or light 
ash color; others, 
again, have the front 
of the body of the 
latter color, and the 
hind part dark, or 
vice versa; or the 
whole may be slate, 
with the exception 
of a white sheet or 
belt round the body. 
Such pigs are also 
found on the Swiss 
Alps and other 
parts of Europe, but 
they do not rank 
as the pure im¬ 
proved Neapolitans 
of the Sorrento type. 
The Neapolitan pig 
is very docile, easily 
kept, fattens at any 
age, and matures early. Being almost entirely 
destitute of hair, they suit a warm climate bet¬ 
ter than a cold one.; siih.wnen tolerably shel¬ 
tered, they winter as well in our latitude as any 
other of the improved breeds. They make an 
excellent cross on common swine, especially if 
these arc somewhat coarse and slow to mature. 
