Page:The Hog.djvu/71

69 In Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the northern parts of Europe, the swine yet retain all the characteristics of their ancestor the wild boar. They are mostly of a red, or dirty brown, or yellow color; long in the body, light and active in make, having long legs, a broad flat head, erect ears, and a nervous, slightly up-turned snout. They are wild in their habits, fierce, not apt, fatteners, or producing delicate meat.

In Holland and Belgium we find numerous varieties and crosses, but the original breeds have large bodies and long lopping ears; the sows are prolific, and if properly attended to, the animals fatten very kindly. There is a variety often met with,—and much esteemed for its productive powers, its disposition to fatten, and the delicacy of its flesh,—which most probably derives its origin from a cross between a native pig and one of the Siamese breed. This animal is of a medium size, rather short on the legs, with a full round body, straight back, broad flanks, and small head. The bristles are white and thinly scattered over the back, but growing rather closer upon the neck and towards the head.

The original breeds of France are mostly coarse ungainly animals, for the most part white, excepting towards the south, and there we find the native breeds very much to resemble those of Italy. "In the time of Buffon, the greater proportion of the hogs in the north of France were white, as were likewise those of Vivarais; while in Dauphiny, which is not far distant, they were all black. Those of Languedoc and Provence were also of the latter color. Black pigs still prevail both in Italy and Spain. According to the great French naturalist, one of the most evident marks of degeneration (an ill-applied term) is furnished by the ears, which become more supple and pendent as the animal changes into the domestic state. He regards the wild boar as the model of the species erroneously, for it can only be looked upon as formed on the model best adapted to the haunts and habits of a wild animal, the welfare of which requires either the instinct of a cunning concealment or the possession of strength or swiftness. Now concealment in a pigsty is of little avail when the day of terror comes, and the obesity of a well-fed porker is, and must ever continue, entirely inconsistent either with speed of foot or vigor of limb; therefore the proper attributes of the animal in its unreclaimed and domesticated conditions being incompatible with each other, those of the former ought not in any way to be set up or assumed as a model by which the latter should be altered or improved."—Quarterly journal of Agriculture, vol. iii. Of late years French agriculturists have seen the advantages small breeds possess over large ones, and endeavored by judicious crosses to reduce the