This hog is to be found in the south-eastern countries of Asia, as Siam,
Cochin China, the Burman Empire, Cambodia, Malacca, Sumatra, and in
Batavia, and other Eastern islands; and is, without doubt, the parent
stock of the best European and American swine.
There are two distinct varieties, the _white_ and the _black_; both
fatten readily, but from their diminutive size attain no great weight.
They are small in limb, round in body, short in the head, wide in the
cheek, and high in the chime; covered with very fine bristles growing
from an exceedingly thin skin; and not peculiarly symmetrical, since,
when fat, the head is so buried in the neck that little more than the
tip of the snout is visible. The pure Chinese is too delicate and
susceptible to cold ever to become a really profitable animal in this
country; it is difficult to rear, and the sows are not good nurses; but
one or two judicious crosses have, in a manner, naturalized it. This
breed will fatten readily, and on a comparatively small quantity of
food; the flesh is exceedingly delicate, but does not make good bacon,
and is often too fat and oily to be generally esteemed as pork. They are
chiefly kept by those who rear sucking-pigs for the market, as they make
excellent roasters at three weeks or a month old. Five, and even seven,
varieties of this breed are distinguished, but these are doubtless the
results of different crosses with our native kinds; among these are
black, white, black and white, spotted, blue and white, and sandy.
[Illustration: THE CHINESE HOG.]
Many valuable crosses have been made with these animals; for the
prevalent fault of the old English breeds having been coarseness of
flesh, unwieldiness of form, and want of aptitude to fatten, an
admixture of the Chinese breed has materially corrected these defects.
Most of our smaller breeds are more or less indebted to the Asiatic
swine for their present compactness of form, the readiness with which
they fatten on a small quantity of food, and their early maturity; but
these advantages are not considered, in the judgment of some, as
sufficiently great to compensate for the diminution in size, the
increased delicacy of the animals, and the decrease of number in the
litters. The best cross is between the Berkshire and Chinese.