OLD ENGLISH BREED. 
PLATE III. 
OLD ENGLISH SOW, from the Midland Counties. 
The breeds of this country which may be regarded as native, may be divided into two general classes ; first, those of smaller 
size, with the ears erect, or tending to erect; and, secondly, those of larger body, with the ears long and pendent. But between 
these extremes, there are such degrees, that numbers cannot be reduced to either class. 
Of the smaller breeds, with sub-erect ears, the most marked are those of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. These 
creatures are of very small size, usually of a dusky brown colour, having an arched back, with coarse bristles along the neck and 
spine. They approach to the aspect of the Wild Hog, without having acquired its habits. They are hardy in a remarkable de¬ 
gree, and adapted to find their food in the situations in which they are placed. They are left to forage for themselves, and have 
usually no shelter afforded them. They graze on the heathy hills and moors, grubbing up the roots of plants with their strong 
snouts, and feeding on the sea coasts on algse, shell-fish, and the bodies of fishes which are cast on shore. In ranging over the 
hills, they destroy the eggs of plovers, grouse, and other birds, nay devour such new-born lambs as come in their way. They 
are the pest of the cultivated fields, rooting up the growing potatoes, and committing prodigious havoc in the corn-fields of 
their careless masters. They are generally very lean, and their flesh in this state is coarse and fibrous; but when confined and 
fed in a proper manner, they become fat more quickly than their grisly exterior would indicate. When their principal food is 
fish, their flesh acquires an oily disagreeable taste. 
The next class of breeds consists of those having a large body and long pendent ears. These are the races of the lower 
country, which have been long in the domesticated state. They are of different colours, but are mostly white, or white spotted 
with black. They are slow feeders, require much food, and are late in arriving at maturity. When fattened at the age of two or 
three years, they become of enormous magnitude. Few, however, perfectly unmixed with foreign blood, now remain. Those that 
are to be found are merely scattered individuals, in remote districts, or in the hands of old farmers unwilling to change their 
modes of husbandry, or in the possession of persons who retain the females for the purpose of rearing large pigs. They are chiefly 
to be found in Ireland, and, until lately, were very numerous in that country. The cause of their disappearance is the mixture of 
blood with that of the more improved breeds. They have been in part likewise crossed with the Wild Hog, the effect of which 
has been to bring them nearer to the natural form, from which they had so greatly receded. 
In the cases where the older race exists without intermixture, it presents the remarkable characters exhibited in the figure. 
Its form is uncouth; the bones are large, and the limbs long; the back is arched and narrow, the shoulder low, the face long, the 
ears are large and flapping. It presents, in truth, a combination of the characters which breeders now wish to avoid. Yet with 
all their defects, these animals possess an important property. The females produce large litters, and are the best of all nurses for 
their young. If crossed with the superior races, as with the Chinese or the Berkshire, the immediate progeny is always good, re¬ 
taining the size of the dam, and acquiring the aptitude to fatten of the superior male. Thriftless, then, as these animals are in 
themselves, with relation to their power of fattening on a given supply of food, yet any one who possesses a Sow of this kind, 
will find her more valuable than any other for the purpose of rearing pigs. 
In Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, and generally in the eastern counties, there are breeds of large size, of a white colour, 
and with pendent ears. These breeds have been cultivated with more or less care, and have all been affected in their form and 
characters by crossing. The county of Suffolk has been long noted for producing large quantities of pork, chiefly for the supply 
of the London market, and the white breed of Suffolk became early known for its goodness. This breed, however, has been 
crossed and recrossed by the Chinese, or descendants of the Chinese, so as to suit its size to the demand of the consumers. The 
Essex breed has, in like manner, been crossed with the smaller and finer breeds, so as to lessen its size and increase the delicacy 
of the pork; and the Essex Hogs are peculiarly distinguished by the fineness of the skin and softness of the hair. 
The same system of crossing has been applied to all the former breeds of the country, the Northampton, the Shropshire, the 
Hampshire, the Itudgwick. The latter, so named from a village of that name on the borders of Surrey and Sussex, produced the 
largest Swine in England, and perhaps in the world. The Hampshire were also a very noted breed, from their being of large size, 
and well suited for bacon. But the distinctive characters of those various races have been more or less effaced, so that varieties 
