of Ireland. In order to obtain the advantages of the English market, great improvements have taken place in the breed of pigs kept in Ireland.
As the Chinese pig is naturalized in our country, a few remarks upon it may not be out of place.
The Chinese pig is seldom kept in its pure state: its flesh indeed is exquisitely delicate, especially that of the sucking pig: and though it fattens rapidly and at little cost, yet, from the unctuous character of the fat, the sides are not calculated for making prime bacon. Besides, it is tender, susceptible of cold, and difficult to rear, the more so as the sows do not generally make good nurses. At the same time, as a source of improvement among our indigenous breeds, by judicious intercrossings, too much cannot be said in its praise; indeed, it has been one of the most successful means of introducing reform among our old stocks; it has corrected the faults of gauntness, of heavy bones, of slow feeding, of coarse flesh, and of a dense skin. True, it has caused a reduction in size, but not in hardiness, by its intercrossing; yet what advantages have not been gained by that very practice?
Thus far have we endeavored to illustrate the various influential breeds of our own country, including Scotland, Ireland, and the smaller islands. To have rigidly analyzed, or rather attempted an analysis, of the varieties peculiar to each county or district, would have been folly—the thing is impossible. Mixtures and intermixtures are perpetually taking place, and individuals are from time to time establishing their own favorite crosses. In every county is this system of improvement in operation; the whole is fluctuating, yet the broad strong current bears on towards improvement. Nevertheless, in this tideway impulse, the strong hand of a judicious steersman is the more necessary: the mark may be overshot. We mean that deficiency of profitable size, weakness of constitution, and infertility, may, unless judgment in crossing be exercised, detract from the merits of an otherwise most valuable stock.
It would be interesting, could we truly ascertain the amount of property invested in the United Kingdom, not only in the porcine race, but in other descriptions of live stock; all the attempts of the kind are merely approximations, yet they are not therefore valueless—they give, at least, general ideas on the subject, and not unfrequently surprise us.
M'Queen, in his Statistics of the British Empire, has thus stated the enormous value of live stock in the United Kingdom, exclusive of domestic poultry (by-the-bye no trifle.) It appears that there are 2,250,000 horses, of the total value of £67,000,000, [the pound sterling is $4 86,6] of which more than 1,500,000 are used in agriculture, and valued at £45,000,000; the number of horned cattle in the kingdom is about 14,000,000, of the value of £216,000,000; the
