Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1900-02-09
PIGS IN EUROPE.
The Pork Animals Were First Do
mcsticnted by the Anglo
Saxon Rncc.

! Pigs were probnblya European "recla-
nation" In the tropical east no one
wanted them. for they were neither
wholesome as flesh nor givers Of milk.
But in every case in Europe and Asia
there is practically only one wild pig,
except the bnbrussa, which may have
been the origin of some of the Chinese
breeds. In any case, the entcrprising
idomesticator of pigs in any form must
he honorcd before the disciple of Con-
,fucius, who is accredited with having
discovered merely by accident their
merits when roasted. We can quite un-
Iderstnnd how the resolve arose. What
could be more natural TO the tribes
men or the village who already pos
isessed n small and increasing herd of
dairy animals reclaimed from the forest
than to follow this up by catching,
either in nets or pitfalls. family of
young wild swine and adding them to
their farm stock? Their prolific char
acter must have been well known, and
ms Mahomct promised IL blessing and
Iangels' visits to the home which pos
lsessed three goats, so the ncighbors
must have looked with envy on the re-
current families of wild piglings in the
wicker fenced Enclosures of the more
ADVENTUROUS. 1t is possible even nt this
distant date TO trace under the nrti-
Ificially rounded form of the Tamworth
breed the long. suspicious nose, the ru-
lfous bristles and the thoughtful eye
of its original wild ancestor.
If the east troubled not with the pig
It probably gave TO the world its floclis
of sheep and goats. Asia is the true
home OF the domcsticated goat. 1t is
there that 1t flourishes, and 1t is held
in honor. There, too, was the animal
which by general consent is the orig
Anal of the common domestic breed, the
wild Paseng goat. or ibcS, call it whicl,
you please. of Asia Minor and Persia
There would not be the slightest diff
Guilty in DEMONSTRATING the young oI
several species of mountain sheep To-
day If this were desired. Difficult as the
lambs are 10 catch, they are taken wher
very young on the mountains. and the
only difference in their behavior is tha
oil become us tame as the provcrbia
PCT Soh'N spNN'No ho'"''N '''
iBarbary wild sheep and the Indian
burrhel-becomem more markedly friend
lly than others. All. wild goats and wilt
sheep alike, have short, smooth coats
though the Darbary sheep grows ;
woolly name; but there is under WOO
In the fur of all the sheep, which care
An domcstication would increase. Th,
tame species have lost their speed ant
agility on the English fields, but not OF
the Alpine pastures. where some of th'
breeds are not unlike the surviving wilt
species, the moufilons of Sardinia.
1t is tempting and easy to imagine
''lost animals" from which our tam,
ones have sprung. But except in th
case of the vanished European. and rer
haps As.a:ic. wild cattle ll.sre is TAO 10
mesticnted quadruped, from the rabbi
and dog 10 the camel. whose origin ma,
not be safely traced 10 n wild ancesto
now living. caught and tanned by per
sonal enterprise and continued in man
service by transmission rs property
of which this may have been one of tn
earliest forms.-London Spectator.