MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 285 



BERKSHIEE : 



**They are not ravenous like the coinniou bog, but are good feeders, and 

 ^vhat tbey eat does tbem good all over ; and in fact they may be briefly summed 

 up as a liardy, prolific, domestic and reasonably easy keeping aniniid. and one 

 that can be sent to market at almost auy age, Avith profit to the producer and 

 satisfaction to the consumer." Thus you see the Berkshire has a combination 

 of many valuable points. The same writer says of the 



SUFFOLK : 



"They are the earliest to mature, take on fat more readily, and give better 

 returns from the same food than auy other of the hog kind; they are docile 

 and domestic and have a good constitution, and are invariably healthy with us, 

 when past the tender age." They are apparently a favorite with Mr. Cottrell. 



ESSEX. 



The same breeder says: ''The Essex are so similar to the Suffolk in nearly 

 every respect except color that the above description of qualities may be applied 

 to them. Their skin, from its color, affords them one advantage over the 

 Suffolks, that is, when the pigs of the latter are very young, if exposed to a 

 burning sun, they are very liable to scald or blister upon the back, while this 

 is never the case with the Essex." "Here let me say," he continues, "that 

 when Suffolk pigs are farrowed during the summer they should be protected 

 from its scalding rays until five or six weeks of age." From this statement at 

 the hands of one who has long raised these hogs and liked them, we can see 

 they are possessed of valuable points, and the fact that while they (the Suffolk) 

 long have been a pet with the breeders they have never become a favorite with 

 the majority of the farmers and swine raisers may be attributed in part I think 

 to this early tenderness, and the same may be said, though in a different light, 

 of the Essex. But, gentlemen of this institute, we have in this country a 

 breed of hogs originated in this country, for this country brought out 

 by the exigencies of the case ; originated for our great American corn 

 crops and our great broad farms ; that is a favorite with the farmer as 

 Avell as with the breeder. He is a genuine American and quails not 

 when in the presence of the bluest blood that ever ran in porcine veins. 

 Eor many years the Americans could not, and did not, make a move 

 but that the votaries of blue blood across the waters drew aside their 

 royal garments while they muttered, "mongrel," or "low," or "com- 

 mon," or "cheap." But I notice that American goods found their way to 

 English backs if they were cheap ; that American implements were used not 

 only by American farmers, but by English farmers also; aye, in fact they 

 have found their way to every nation of Euroiie. I find to-day, members of 

 this Institute, English M. P. traveling over this country of "common" people. 

 That they may see its poverty? its cheapness? Far from it; but that they, 

 seeing, may learn the secret of our success and profit thereby. They found 

 that the American was quick to take results in liand and judge for himself; 

 quick to discern which of several ways or things is the most profitable. 



The sneer to which the Poland-China was formerly treated has clianged, for 

 this American hog has proven capable of taking care of himself and is found 

 by the farmers of Ohio, Indiana, Iowa and Illinois to be the most profitable. 

 Nine-tenths of the })roduct of these great pork producing states is Poland- 

 China, a fact not surprising when we consider this breed's peculiarities. While 



