Page:The Hog.djvu/70

68 Thäer informs us, that "the chief breeds of pigs known in the north of Germany and crossed in various different ways, are, the Moldavian, Wallachian, and Bothnian, remarkable for their enormous size, iron-gray color, and large lapping ears; and the Polish, or, properly speaking, the Podolian, which are also very large, but are of a yellow color, and have a broad brown stripe along the spine." These two breeds, he says, furnish the large pigs for fattening, but they require a proportionably large quantity of food, and besides are not very productive, the sows seldom bringing forth more than four or five at the most at a birth.

The Bavarian pigs, he states, are much esteemed for their smallness of bone and aptitude to fatten; but the flesh is not liked, it being too flabby and soft. This breed is usually marked with reddish-brown spots. The Westphalian is another breed very generally met with; these animals are large in size and very prolific, bringing forth ten or twelve at a litter.

The next variety mentioned he designates "the English pig," and describes it as being large, full, and deep in the body, and requiring very substantial food. A cross between this breed and the Westphalian is stated to produce an excellent animal. To these he adds the Chinese breed, the Spanish or African black pig, which he estimates very highly from its aptitude to fatten on indifferent or scanty food, its rapid growth, delicate flesh, excellent hams, and the advantages derived from crossing the larger breeds with it; and lastly, the German pig, properly so called. But it appears that this can scarcely be regarded as a distinct breed, but rather as the result of numerous and various crosses, for he says: "This breed is different in its characteristics in different provinces; the color is white, black, gray, or spotted. It is of a middling size and can be supported on a moderate quantity of nourishment. There is no doubt but that by more attention being bestowed upon the breeding, rearing, and feeding of this race, they might be materially improved, but most of the persons who undertake the management of pigs on an extensive scale, seem rather anxious to try the effect of different and new crosses than to improve the old breed." {{dhr}

In Hungary, Croatia, and Servia a race of swine resembling that found in Turkey are met with; small, of a dark gray color, and short-legged, yet not apparently deriving their origin from the Chinese. The flesh of the swine reared in Servia is said to be more delicate than will be met with any where throughout the whole of Europe.