FARMEES' INSTITUTES. 101 



which they will put on. My exiaerience has been that when you get a })en of 

 Suffolk hogs nearly ready for slaughter, some of them will break down ; whereas 

 you can load the flesh right on to a Poland China, and he can stand up and 

 carry it around. They are also of a quiet nature, which is a very important 

 feature. 



Mr. Anderson. — I suppose there is no douljt whatever of the superiority of 

 the Poland China over the Suffolk. I know of no pure Suffolk in this countiy, 

 although there may be. Mr. Smith, of Detroit, breeds them quite extensively, 

 and also the Berkshire and Essex. Some of these gentlemen have spoken of 

 the great Aveight which the Poland China can carry. Mr. Brackett, formerly 

 of Marshall, had a hog which dressed nearly 750 pounds. Just before he killed 

 him some friends were astonished to hear him state what they thought the 

 incredible amount of Aveight Avhich the Poland China hog could carry. Mr. 

 Brackett is a man who weighs 140 pounds, and he stepped right upon the 

 shoulders of the hog, and it never crippled under him. I have never seen a hog 

 with a=i good a leg to carry weight, and yet mature as early. I butchered three 

 pigs this fall which came in April, and I marketed them in this village about 

 eight weeks ago, and they brought me nearly $54. I have three more in the 

 pen which I showed at the county fair, and on which I received first premium. 

 They are so fat that I shall be obliged to kill them very soon. They came 

 about the first of May, and some estimate their weight as high as 300 pounds. 

 I don't think they will dress that, but so far as my experience goes they excel 

 anything I have ever seen. 



Mr. Ferris. — I Ijought a male pig of this breed during the fair, and put him 

 with my other pigs, and in about three weeks he got so fat he could hardly walk. 

 I had actually to take him away from the other pigs, and starve him right 

 down. If tliere are any finer hogs around the country than he is I don't 

 find them. 



Mr. Sutherland. — I can tell him where ho can find a? handsome a one as he 

 can see anywhere. I bought a pig two years ago, and I put him on a diet so 

 I knew just what ho was eating, and he became very fat, but he could get 

 around for all of tliat. I never knew a Poland China to cripple up unless put 

 on a plank floor and kept there. It is a singular thing to me that a Poland 

 China hoo- should be unable to walk. 



Mr. Blackman. — I would like to ask Mr. Anderson what are the best points 

 in a hog for breeding or fattening purposes. 



Mr. Anderson. — My idea is that the best points in a hog are early maturity, 

 and the greatest amount of pork from a given amount of feed. I presume Mr. 

 Blackman understands the good points in a hog as well as I do. Good length 

 and breadth, a good shoulder and ham, and a bone of sufficient size to hold up 

 the necessary weight, are points which should not be overlooked. 



Mr. Loomis. — I find, in looking over the stock pens in Chicago, that in Illi- 

 nois and Iowa tliey invariably raise the small-bone hog. The breeders claim 

 they mature quicker, and require loss feed for the same amount of flesh. One 

 man who brought in five car-loads of his own raising claimed that the small 

 China hog, crossed with the Poland, gave a hog which would mature early, and 

 takes but a small amount of feed to bring it up to 250 pounds. This is about 

 the class of hogs you find in the yards at Chicago, and they have l^eon bred for 

 the profit there is in them. If those breeders have the right idea, then there is 

 a wrong here in breeding large-bone hogs. The large hogs which reach that 

 market are most always maimed, for they can't stand jamming in cars, or driv- 

 ing either. 



