The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-01-17


Go there with all the birds-and seek
happier cline, with ivelier flight:
Kiss, with the sun, the evenings cheek;
And leave me lonely with the night.
I'll gaze upon the cold north light,
And mark where all its glOries shone-
See-that it all is fair and bright,
Feel-that it all is cold and gone.
The Berkshire-His Origin, Form, Col
or, Etc.
From the Rural Sun
As l have been repeatedly called on
in private letters for my opinion in re-
gard to the hair and color of the Berk-
shire hog, / have chosen this method of
reply, knowing that if those making in
quiries are not readers of the Sun, they
should be. Much time and paper have
been employed in the discussion of this
vexed question. While some breeders
persistently refuse to recognize any ami
NAL as a pure bred Berkshire having
white in excess of the six white points;
others stoutly contend that aUhite and
eUen buff on the body of an animal are
not sufficient to exclude them from the
kingdom of Berkshires A little sober
investigation it would seem might serve
to put this question forever at rest.
The first step to the solution OF this
problem is to recognize the fact that in
absolute strictness there is no such
thing as a pure bred animal. But that
in a reLatiUe sense there is. And though
we may breed " IN and in," and select
with the greatest care, yet in one sense
we have the very same blood with which
we started. That is, in the hog we have
to go back to the wild boar for a COM
mon origin. The Berkshires, Graziers,
Yorkshires, Chesters and Poland Chinas,
all have common origin, and though
the Chesters and Poland Chinas, at the
recent Swine Convention at Indianapo-
lis, have been pronounced land / think
JUSTIFY to be OF impure blood, yet they
are remotely kin to the Berkshire, Es-
sex, etc.
Breeds are formed by persistent con-
tinuance in selecting and feeding with
reference to a certain type, until the an
imals breeding will reproduce them
selves with general certainty, will not
say with abolute certainty, for that has
never been done. There will OCCASION
ally be an O1ttcrOl1 in obedience to law
of reversion. Take the human race,
Eyes, the Caucasian race, if you please,
and what do you see. The offspring of
the dark haired father and mother are
occasionally of fair complexion and red
haired. But by tracing the ancestry
we find perhaps a remote ancestor whose
complexion viii account for the ano-
maly.
Awell defined case of the law of re-
version is given at page rs of "Harris
on the Pig" in which he says the i'm
proved Berkshire was used to give size
and constitution many years ago to the
Essex, and one of the most eminent
breeders of Essex has informed me that
on one occasion in litter of Essex pigs
two little pictures of the Berkshire
boar, their remote ancestor by at least
twenty-eight years, appeared. This
seems to me to be exactly in point. If
then the form of remote ancestor be
lost for twenty-eight years and then
suddenly reappear as iii the case of two
little Berkshire pigs, may we not expect
to see an occasional outcrOp in regard to
color? seeing these Outcrops are of
every day occurrence in the Caucasian
race, Notwithstanding their purity of
blood
But to the point. Let us examine the
make up of the renowned Berkshire,
and see if we cannot account for the oc-
casiOnal Feckil}gS of 1Chite and buff that
have so much confused the breeder as
we'll as the purchaser of Berkshire pigs.
Professor Law, [ believe, says " the
Berkshire is of a tawny white or rufous
brown color, spotted with black or
brown" and mentions the fact they had
curly rough hair. Then here we have
white and buff spots on the Berkshire
of that day. But again Mr.. Sidney,
and he is good authority any where,
says g the original Essex pig was par
ti-colored animal, black with white
shoulders, nose and legs, in fact, a sort
of sheeted pig" And the Essex pig is
component part of the Berkshire, be-
ing worked in by the English breeders;
and the NeapOlitan was used as a cross
on the Berkshire
Mr.. Thomas Owen, for many years
noted breeder in England says: 81 re-
member the Berks pig much larger
and caarser animal than now-at present
they are medium, not a large hog"
They have been improved by judiciOus
selections and distant crosses with the
NeaEolitan, which have added to their
fattening qualities.
tits unnecessary to trace the origin of the
Berkshire farther, as I have shown from
his history that almost all manner of
We have the black Essex, the parti-col-
ored Essex, the black Neapolitan, and
black and white Chinese, or parti-color-
ed Chinese hogs. And in addition to
these there were one or two nameless
breeds, pure white, worked into the he
terOgeniOus mass.
No wonder that we should occasional
ly meet Berkshire with white, buff or
sandy spots. These white and sandy
cOlors exist in the Berkshire in embryo.
and in obedience to the law of reversion
is occasionally brought out. Color is
to very great extent a matter of fancy.
1t is mainly useful in this that it is by
the color almost as much as the form in
some breeds that we determine as to the
purity of the blood For instance, the |
Chester hog is universally white, or
ought to be, consequently a red, black !
or blue hog can never pass for Chester
But on the other hand, all white hogs |
are not Chesters. Then comes in the |
form that characterizes and determines
by the aid of the color to what breed of |
hogs the animal belongs.
Again: Devon cattle are universally |
red, or expected to be; but not so with |
the Durham, he having a very wide |
range in color, being pure red, red |
and white, and pure white. The Berk-
shire by English stock men is classed |
with the black breeds, but is distinguish
ed from the Essex and Neapolitan by |
having more or less white or buff, and
this has been increased or diminished
by the breeder by selecting breeding
stock with less or more, according to
what is desired.
A noted breeder in England some
years ago bred with a view to the four
white points and few white hairs behind
each shoulder.
But the ignorance of the breeding
has done more to corrupt
Berkshire than anything else. And
how? / answer by their continually
for less white. The conse-
luence is that INSCRIPTIONS breeders,
mainly our English cousins, have taken
advantage of our ignorance and crossed
he Essex or the Berkshire in order
% breed out the white as far as possible.