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says:

"Suffolk pigs are perhaps on the whole, the most profitable breed in England."

For the introduction of this breed into the United States, we are indebted to the late William Stickney, of Boston. He made various importations, comprising some of the best specimens of the breed to be had in England, from 1842 to 1848. Since then various other importations have been made by different persons, and the breed has been pretty generally disseminated over the country. The reputation of the breed has suffered some from the indifferent and worthless animals which were scattered over the country a few years since by unprincipled speculators. A mistake was to some extent committed in breeding from stock which, for this climate, was too lightly coated, and which, as a consequence, were rather deficient in constitution. But the leading breeders have applied the proper corrective, and are producing animals better covered with bristles and of more substance. There is no difficulty in obtaining specimens of this breed that will reach the weight of 350 to 400 pounds, dressed, at twelve to eighteen months old. If fairly fed, they will always be in condition to kill from the time they are a month old.

Inquiry is sometimes made in regard to the dark spots which occasionally appear on Suffolk swine. Unless there has been some late cross of the stock, the spots are attributable to the "out-cropping" of Berkshire and black Chinese blood, which, as above stated, constituted, in part, the origin of the breed. In most instances, the spots alluded to are merely on the outer or scurf skin, and do not change the color of the bristles. In some instances they do not appear on the animal till it has reached the age of several months.

THE LARGE YORKSHIRE BREED.-This breed is of the largest class-specimens frequently reaching the weight of 600 to 700 pounds, and sometimes 800 pounds or more, dressed, at two to three years old. A few years since, the writer saw, at an exhibition of Royal Agricultural Society of England, a sow of this

breed, with six sucking pigs, six weeks old, the weight of which (that is of the sow) was, according to a card attached to the pen, upwards of eleven hundred pounds. At the same exhibition there was a boar of the same breed, whose weight was certified to be upwards of ten hundred pounds, though he was only in middling condition. Considering the enormous size of these animals, they are not coarse. Their shape is generally good, the legs straight, the back rather arched, and well calculated to sustain great weight. They seem to be, on the whole, superior to any other very large breed. Their color is uniformly white. James Brodie, of Rural Hill, Jefferson county, N. Y., introduced this breed from England several years since. George Miller, of Markham, Canada West, keeps this breed.

THE LINCOLNSHIRE BREED was formerly quite celebrated. They were large, reaching the weight of 450 to 500 pounds at a year and a half old, and 700 pounds at two years, according to Youatt. An intermixture with the Chinese has produced a smaller stock, maturing at an earlier age. Both kinds have been introduced into this country, but are not propagated as distinct varieties at the present time. It has been said that the large Lincolnshire was one of the parent stocks of the so-called Chester-County, or Chester-White, to be noticed in another place.

THE LEICESTERSHIRE BREED was for a time one of the most popular in England. It was derived from the stock of the celebrated breeder and improver of domestic animals of the last century, Robert Bakewell. It was white, of rather large size, and doubtless did much towards the improvement of the large varieties of Britain, generally. They were, several years ago, well known and quite popular in this country; but the stock has degenerated, and is hardly to be found at the present day, possessing its original characteristics.

THE BYFIELD, or Newbury-WHITE BREED.-This was a stock of American origin, which obtained considerable notoriety. It first attracted attention upwards of sixty years ago A correspondent of the Boston Cultivator, in the issue for April 28th,

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1860, gives the following account of the origin of this variety: “About sixty years ago a woman came to market at Newburyport, Mass., on horseback, her load being suspended in panniers on either side of the saddle. Among her stock was a little sow pig. It was purchased by Mr Hase, a butcher at the ship-yards. One of this sow's pigs was purchased by Mr. Richard Little, of Old Town, and one of her progeny, a boar, was purchased by Moses Colman, of Byfield. This boar became the sire of the afterwards noted Byfield breed. They were at first termed the Colman breed, but Eben [Gorham] Parsons, Esq., having procured some for his farm in Byfield, he called them the Byfield breed.”

This account does not differ much from the most authentic statements derived from other sources. It was said by some persons that the pig which the woman carried to market was either brought from Africa, or was the offspring of one from there. In 1852, the late Col. Jaques, of the Ten Hills Farın, near Boston, in reply to an inquiry by the writer of this article, wrote as follows: "Some forty years since, while on a visit to the late Gorham Parsons's farm, in Byfield, Mr. Parsons introduced me to a neighbor of his by the name of Colman, as being the person who first produced and bred the variety of swine called the Byfield breed. I think Mr. Colman mentioned something about having first obtained a Chinese [or African] pig."

Under the name of Byfield and Newbury-white breed, this stock and crosses from it became widely disseminated, and though no vestige of it has existed for years that could be traced with anything like certainty, or even probability to the original source, yet it has been common to see notices and advertisements of pigs represented to be of this breed, down to the present time.

THE MACKAY BREED was originated by the late Capt. John Mackay, of Boston. He had a farm at Weston, in Middlesex county, Mass., on which he collected many hogs of different varieties, which he procured in various parts of the world,

whither he was led in his commercial intercourse. These various kinds were bred together, and the result was the production of a stock to which his name was applied. The writer of this article purchased swine of Capt. Mackay, at various times —first in 1830-and so far as he is aware, was the first person to give the stock the name by which it afterwards became extensively known. Subsequent experience, however, proved that the stock had not acquired a sufficiently uniform character to justify its being called a distinct breed. The great diversity in the character of the parent stocks, was always more or less · manifest. The animals were in general very easily fattened, and were highly profitable. But in pigs of the same litter, there were some which would grow to a large size, and others which, with the same advantages, would always be small. The larger ones would frequently reach the weight of 600 pounds and upwards, at eighteen to twenty months old, if well fed. During the latter part of his career, Capt. M. gave attention chiefly to the propagation of this large stock. In 1834, he sold all his stock to Col. Jaques, of the Ten Hills Farm, by whom it was propagated for several years. It has now become extinctthat is, there is no reason to believe there are any swine in existence which are entirely of the original Mackay stock. The writer knows of none that are as much as half-blood. It is said that what is called in some parts of Illinois and some of the other Western States, the "McGee" and "Magee" breed, is sometimes confounded with the Mackay; but Mr. Emery, of the Prairie Farmer, in an article in the Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture, for 1863, states that the so-called McGee or Magee stock takes its name properly from a breeder in Ohio.

THE BEDFORD, OR WOBURN BREED, originated at Woburn, in England, the estate of the Duke Bedford. It was for some time one of the most valuable varieties known. Various importations were made into this country. The first were sent as a present to General Washington by the Duke of Bedford, about the year 1792. Some of the descendants of this importa

tion were introduced into Massachusetts by Col. Timothy Pickering, who was Secretary of State under a portion of Washington's administration, and who then and afterwards manifested great interest in agricultural affairs. The breed was extensively propagated in Massachusetts for many years, and as hogs of medium size, and especially for slaughtering at six to eight months old, they have never been surpassed. Nothing like a full-blood of the breed has been seen for twenty years or Diluted strains of the blood lingered later in what was called the "Hospital Breed," kept at the hospital for the insane, Worcester, Mass., but it would be difficult to recognize a trace of it at the present time.

more.

The Ches

THE CHESTER COUNTY, OR CHESTER WHITE hogs take their name from Chester county, Pennsylvania. Their origin is said to have been, in part, some large English hogs, much resembling the large Lincolnshire before described. They had considerable local reputation twenty or thirty years ago. Many persons, however, in Pennsylvania, who had kept them, resorted to crosses, more or less, with the Suffolk and similar breeds, several years since, for the purpose of correcting what was regarded as too much coarseness in the Chester stock. Of late, the Chesters have been much sought after by persons whose swine, from various causes, have become too small. ter county hog, as the writer first saw it in Pennsylvania, many years ago, may be described as of a white color; of comparatively large size; the head rather large; the nose or snout thick, but not long for the size of the animal; the ears large, thick, and flapping; the body rather long and tolerably round; the back generally hollowing, frequently with a considerable settle immediately behind the shoulders; the legs generally large in proportion to the size of the body, and in fat animals frequently giving way so much as to bring the pastern joints fully to the ground; the skin rather thick, and covered with long, wavy bristles.

Many of the hogs which under the name of Chester-County, or Chester-White have been sent over the country of late

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