Page:The Hog.djvu/99

97 Crossings and intercrossings are everywhere taking place, and all the old stocks have become so altered, that the hog race of England is generally assuming an approach to universal uniformity. The modified New Leicesters and Yorkshires, the improved Berkshires, the Essex, and the New Suffolks, with various intermixtures of the Chinese and the Neapolitan races, are everywhere extending themselves. The gaunt, lanky, old breeds, flat in the sides and heavy in the bone, are now rare, and regarded as curiosities.

Among this diversity of intercrossings, certain strains are brought to high perfection by the breeder's skill and patience, and are deemed the highest even of the race to which they may belong. Thus, for example, in Berkshire we have the Coleshill strain, the pure Wadley strain, and the old Crutchfield strain; in Essex we have Lord Western's strain; and the same observations apply to other counties. But too often exorbitant overloading of fat is too much regarded—a point of less consequence than shape, fertility, and aptitude to fatten upon moderate rations; inasmuch as the wealthy have at their command the means of forcing animals unnaturally, and think little of the waste thereby incurred in order to accomplish their object. Pigs are shown not only incapable of standing, but also of seeing, from the enormous volumes of fat with which they are loaded. Such an accumulation of fat is in itself disease. Think what must be the state of the heart, the condition of the circulation, and the character of the muscular fibres. We have heard of mice burrowing in the fat of such animals, without appearing to occasion any pain or inconvenience. In cattle-shows there is, in many respects, sufficient evidence of the general and marked improvement which has taken place in this class of domestic animals; but we form our judgment rather from those which show their points, are really well fed, and not fattened up till they appear like bloated skins of lard—as destitute of definite shape, as of the power of moving about. What a waste of money must the forcing of such a monster occasion! The outlay would have sufficed to bring three pigs into fine and profitable condition. And what is the object? To show in how short a time a pig can be rendered a mass of fat, and upon what sort and quantity of food. The better aim would be, to show how many pigs could be well fattened in a given time upon a stipulated quantity of food—what breeds fattened the most kindly, and would be found the most profitable.

In Shropshire, Gloucestershire, Cheshire, Herefordshire, Oxfordshire, and other counties, the old races of pigs have passed away, and crosses with the Berkshire, and also with the Essex and the Chinese, have taken their place. In short, the change is universal; and even in the southern parts of Scotland, where formerly but few pigs were kept, and those of an inferior sort, excellent breeds prevail, and pigs are largely reared by the farmers.