[...]... large breed called the Rudgwick, was one of the largest in England There appears to be a doubt as to whether the coloured pig was descended from the spotted Berkshire or the black and white Essex They were of medium size, of good quality generally, but of somewhat heavy bone." The generally accepted view is that the Essex sheeted pig was descended from importations from the county of Sussex These sheeted... were left entirely to the judges, who naturally were led to favour pigs of the type which they bred There was thus a greater amount of uncertainty as to the success of an exhibitor's stock than at the present time This uncertainty— save as to the members of the Show Committees or their friends—was increased by the unfair system of withholding from the knowledge of the average exhibitor the names of. .. those selected to judge The necessity of some definition, if only of colour, quickly became obvious At first classes were established for pigs of certain colours; then the prizes were offered for pigs of certain breeds, which were more or less loosely defined Now at the chief shows the pigs exhibited in the various classes must be qualified for entry in the herd books of the particular breeds At the. .. and whose estate was situated in Essex In Sidney's book The Pig, we read, "West Sussex, Hampshire, Berkshire, Dorset, Shropshire and Wales had indigenous black or red and black breeds of swine; and between the whites, the blacks and the reds the parti-colours were produced which have since in a great degree disappeared under the influence of prizes, generally awarded to pure breeds of single colours."... in the bone and offal They feed remarkably fast and are of an excellent quality of meat The sows are good breeders, and bring litters of from eight to twelve; but they have the character of being bad nurses." If this allegation were true at the time it was written, it is not at the present time as the Half-Blacks or sheeted sows are both prolific and first-rate mothers Malden describes the Sussex:... call these sheeted pigs Hampshires is not on the surface, since the oldest writers on pigs give to the county of Sussex the credit of being their original home The description given by Sidney of the Hampshire pig is that "it is a coarse and useful black pig, inferior to the Berkshire, and not in the same refined class as the Essex." Richardson writes "The Hampshire breed is not infrequently confounded... have been used in the production of the pig which in their time was looked upon as the domesticated and improved pig of the period This difficulty extends even to the present day So far as is known there exists no actual proof that the domesticated hog has been evolved in any particular way other than by continued selection of those animals for breeding purposes which possessed in the greatest degree... Shows have become extinct These were the Small White and the Small Black breeds the sole cause of their disappearance being the unsuitability of the pigs of the breeds to supply the present requirements of the consumer Photo, Sport and General LARGE BLACK BOAR, "DRAYTON KING." Owner, Terah F Hooley 1st Prize, Somerset County Agricultural Show, 1913 To face page 16 Block kindly supplied by E F Casswell,... degree those particular qualities held in the highest estimation at the time Of course, the soil, climate, etc., of the district in which pigs are reared have a certain amount of influence, but this is noticeable to a much lesser extent with pigs than with horses, cattle, or sheep, since under the present system of pigbreeding the greater portion of the food used in the different districts is of a very similar... common types of these local breeds of pigs, and mention the names of those counties in which they are more generally found Amongst the most distinct of these local breeds is that which is variously termed the sheeted or saddle-backed pig, which in the United States has a society to look after its interests, and where it bears the name of The Hampshire Just why our American cousins should have decided to . or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www .gutenberg. net Title: The Pig Breeding, Rearing, and Marketing Author: Sanders Spencer Release. impossible so to improve the wild hog by selection as to render it the equal of the domesticated hog. There must, therefore, have been an infusion of blood of a cultivated breed of pigs to acquire even. SOWS OF THE LARGE AND MIDDLE WHITE BREEDS. The Middle White Sow in the forefront (the property of the Author) was one of the best ever bred, "Holywell Countess Victoria." THE PIG BREEDING,