The Wichita daily eagle., 1891-10-08
DEVELOPMENT OF TEE eIG-
A Triumph of Art Over Nature-The Re-
suit of Judicious Blending-Mod-
ern History of Much
Slandered Animal.
From the saturdar RerIem.

AAO 0C'C4OpluSu5 VI Tue Dig - a III
umph OF art over nature. Natures pig.
the Wild boar, is not very calmly ami
NAL; natures pig, again, simply domes-
: ticated and fattened, in the form of q
common farm pig, little better than a
necessary evil; but natures pigs from
different quarters of the world, mixing
together, remixed, and judiciously
blended by the scientific breeder, event
ually produce creature which is a Joy,
If not exactly thing of beauty, forever
or, at least, until it is made into bacon.
1t Is absolutely painful to a man who
knows what pig ought to be, maybe,
and often Is, to hear people who should
know better say that they ''hate pigs. "
Such people have no eyes for form, or
they would not speak thus of animals
showing the graceful curves of the best
breeds OF Berkshires, Guinese and York
shires.
Undoubtedly the British pig of the
end OF last century must have been an
ugly lu-faVored-looking brute-indeed,
many OF his modern representatives are
little better-but by degrees there came
lmportations of Chinese, Siamese, Nal
tese and Neapolitan pigs, which, if not
altogether satisfactory to themselves
brought corrective influences" to bear
upon our native monstrosity. The
native monstrosity, again, acted as a
corrective one upon the alien, and so we
went on, breeding, crossing, selecting,
| eftectlng the survival of the fttest and
the curing of the less fit, until we OBJ
tanned those glorious pig which are only
so far short of perfection as to make us
Jealous in the hope of some day attain
ing TO it.
1t Is mortifying to the Englishman to
know that, while he was still content
with great, heavy pig, the South Sea
Islands, on their discovery, were found
to be well stocked with small, black,
short-legged pig. AS to the Chinese,
they have been far ahead Of US for CEN
turies, and in most of the provinces of
China pork Is, at present, much more
abundant than mutton. Ii is some con-
ISOLATION to reflect that America had been
behind US, and that the pig is not indig-
enous to North America, although the
first cousin, the peccary, is a native Of
South America. The Americans, how
ever, have made up for lost time, and we
have nothing in this country that can vie
with the great pig-meat factories of Chi
cago. In respect to the treatment of
pigs in other parts of the world. 1t is
sad, when we look at our own refined
and well-cared for favoriteS, to remem-
Der that in some parts of India semi-wild
pigs are allowed to work their own sweet
will IN the streets as scavengers. In
short, they take the place of drains, and
they go where they please in perfect
safety, for nobody has the least desire to
that such evil livers. Yet it is OF faith
among pig fanciers that their pet is nat
urally clean animal; that he hates a
dirty sty, and that if left to himself he |
would feed almost exclusively on chest |
nuts, acorns and truffles.
A change of fashion has taken place of |
late in the modern British pig. not |
through the taste of the fancier, but |
through the more practical if less artistic
demands of the bacon curer. The fact |
is that curing has been revolutionized.
Formerly the lean of bacon and ham
used to be hard. unpalatable and fear
fully salt, while the fat, as fat, was good
enough; now, under the system known
as mild curing" the lean is excellent
1t may easily be understood, therefore,
that during the dark ages of bacon
curing the chief object of the pig fattener
was to produce the largest possible
amount of fat to lean, whereas at present
it is to produce the greatest possible pro-
portion of lean to fat. There have been
changes, again. in the ideal shape of the
pig, and these have been brought about
by the alteration in the price given per
pound in the market for certain portions
of the pigs carcass. For instance, the
shoulder and neck are now about the
least valuable parts of his body, conse.
quently the immensely developed crests
and shoulders, which used to excite so
much admiration, are now odious in the
eyes of the practical breeder. Without
entering into the details of ''sides of
bacon" such as prime streaky," "thin
streaky." middle of CANNON" ''fore
and, etc., we NAV remark that there are ,
about seven distinct prices for the seven
.een different parts of the ''sides, to say
nothing of the head and trotters.
If we were asked which modern breed ,
vas probably the most direct descendant
If the aboriginal pig of this country, we I
hould be inclined to say the Tamworth.
This breed has been steadily increasing 7
n favor during the last few years. The I
common idea of a Tamworth's color is :
lull red, with black spots, but it varies
rom deep rich red to brick-dust tint. S
md in some cases is of dark slate color. y
The uncultivated Tamworth is hardy, :
lgly, leggy, long-nosed and slow in
TOwth; the improved Tamworth is also
lArdy and longed-nosed, but he puts on :
can quickly and fat slowly, which ;
makes him the pig of the period for b
uring on the modern system. The
lack Berkshire is still very popular a
ig, and for many years he was gener- a
lily liked better than any other, al I
hough he had to make a hard struggle ,
D overcome a strong prejudice which
xisted in certain localities against his a
olor. This pig, as well as the Essex, g
-as improved many years ago by a cross !.
f Neapolitan blood. The probability "
nat the Berkshire breed has been black
DR. a long period has been questioned. =
'lack pigs with white points can .,
e traced back for seventy years in n
BERKSHIRE: yet it has been confidently as c,
srted that the pig of the district used to e.
e tawny. with black spots, At any
ate, crosses of Berkshire with white b.
igs frequently produce offspring with a II
ertain amount of red, which shows SC
lat this breed, like the Tamworth, a.
riginally sprang from the old red pig of =
le country. The produce of a Berk- II
lire SOW by a white boar is almost al bl
ays white, but, curiously enough, dark II
)lors often appear IN later crosses. The al
lief faults to be guarded against in al
lying Berkshires are light tianks. short a.
ID deeply furrowed skin. They should -
0t be marked with white except on the -
ose, forehead, tip Of the tail and feet:
1t if they have 70 white upon them az
] it Is probable that they have cross
Essex blood in them.
The T5CSaY i orf.a blarE- and = copaa ! -