Domestic Animals / History and description of the horse, mule, cattle, sheep, swine, poultry and farm dogs; with directions for their management, breeding, crossing, rearing, feeding, and preparation for a profitable market; also their diseases and remedies. Together with full directions for the management of the dairy.

by Richard Lamb Allen

Breeds of Swine.

The breeds cultivated in this country are numerous, and like our native cattle, they embrace many of the best, and a few of the worst to be found among the species. Great attention has for many years been paid to their improvement in the Eastern states, and nowhere are there better specimens than in many of their yards. This spirit has rapidly extended West and South; and among most of the intelligent farmers who make them a leading object of attention, on their rich corn grounds, swine have attained a high degree of excellence. This does not consist in the introduction and perpetuity of any distinct races, so much as in the breeding up to a desirable size and aptitude for fattening, from such meritorious individuals of any breed, or their crosses, as come within their reach.

[Fig. 33], represents an English breed of hogs, a century or more ago: though coarse and slouch-eared, it is yet the portrait of a tolerable hog, and far before many of the swine that still maintain their ascendency in various parts of the European continent. This breed is nearly extinct, having been crossed successively by the Chinese and other good breeds, thus diminishing the size and materially improving its thrift and tendency to fattening. We have few such animals in the United States, though we have many that are worse.

The Byefield, some 30 years ago, was a valuable hog in the Eastern states, and did much good among the species generally. They are white, with fine curly hair, well made and compact, moderate in size and length, with broad backs, and at 15 months attaining some 300 to 350 lbs. net.

The Bedford or Woburn is a breed originating with the Duke of Bedford, on his estate at Woburn, and brought to their perfection, probably, by judicious crosses of the China hog, on some of the best English swine. A pair was sent by the duke to this country, as a present to Gen. Washington, but they were dishonestly sold by the messenger in Maryland, in which state and Pennsylvania they were productive of much good at an early day, by their extensive distribution through different states. Several other importations of this breed have been made at various times, and especially by the spirited masters of the Liverpool packet ships, in the neighborhood of New York. They are a large, spotted animal, well made, and inclining to early maturity and fattening. They are an ex

ceedingly valuable hog, but are nearly extinct both in England and this country, as a breed.

The Leicesters are a large, white hog, generally coarse in the bone and hair, great eaters, and slow in maturing. Some varieties of this breed differ essentially in these particulars, and mature early on a moderate amount of food. The crosses with smaller compact breeds, are generally thrifty, desirable animals. Other large breeds deserving commendation in this country, are the large Miami white, the Yorkshire white, and the Kenilworth, each frequently attaining, when dressed, a weight of 600 to 800 lbs.

The Chinese is among the smaller varieties, and without doubt is the parent stock of the best European and American swine. They necessarily vary in appearance, size, shape, and color, from the diversity in the style of breeding, and the various regions from which they are derived.

The [Fig.] represents the pure China pig, and is a striking likeness of many of the imported and their immediate descendants that we have seen in this country. They are too small an animal for general use, and require to be mixed with larger

breeds to produce the most profitable carcass for the market. For the purpose of refining the coarse breeds, no animal has ever been so successful as this. They are fine-boned, short, and very compact, with bellies almost touching the ground, light head and ears, fine muzzle, of great docility and quietness, small feeders, and producing much meat for the quantity of food consumed.

From the rapidity with which generations of this animal are multiplied, the variety of other breeds on which they are crossed, and the treatment to which they are subjected, it is not surprising that their descendants should rapidly assume distinct features. They furnish not only a strong dash of blood in the best class of large breeds, but in such of the smaller as have any pretensions to merit, they constitute the greater part of the improvement. Such are the Neapolitan, the Essex half-black, the Grass breed, and some others.

The Berkshires are an ancient English breed, formerly of large size, slow feeders, and late in maturing. Their color was a buff or sandy ground, with large black spots, and the feet, lower part of the legs, and tuft on the tail, buff. The

latter color has given place, in most of the modern age, to white in the same parts. This variation, with the more important ones of early maturity and good feeding properties, are by Professor Low ascribed to a Chinese cross, which has added the only characteristic in which they were before deficient.

They were first introduced and reared as a distinct breed in this country by Mr. Brentnall, of Orange Co., and Mr. Hawes, of Albany, N. York. In their hands, and those of other skilful breeders, their merits were widely promulgated. No other breeds have been so extensively diffused in the United States, within comparatively so brief a period, as the Berkshires, since 1832, and they have produced a marked improvement in many of our former races.

They weigh variously, from 250 to 400 lbs. net, at 16 months, according to their food and style of breeding; and some full-grown have dressed to more than 800 lbs. They particularly excel in their hams, which are round, full, and heavy, and contain a large proportion of lean, tender, and juicy meat, of the best flavor.

None of our improved breeds afford long, coarse hair or bristles; and it is a gratifying evidence of our decided improvement in this department of domestic animals, that our brush-makers are under the necessity of importing most of what they use from Russia and northern Europe. This improvement is manifest not only in the hair, but in the skin, which is soft and mellow to the touch; in the finer bones, shorter head, upright ears, dishing face, delicate muzzle, and mild eye; and in the short legs, low flanks, deep and wide chest, broad back, and early maturity.