138 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 

 "So Much for" — Berkshires. 



[Albany Cultivator, 7:129; Aug., 1840'] 



[July 6, 1840] 



Friend Tucker 2 — You have probably judged from the 

 tenor of some of my former communications, that we 

 were cursed in this part of the country, with a species 

 of wild animals, called hogs ; and also of my intention to 

 take some steps to convince my fellow-citizens, that they 

 were entirely mistaken in the article. I am happy to 

 state to you, that I have been eminently successful. The 

 witnesses which I have introduced to prove my case, 

 have, by a speaking, though dumb, eloquence, convinced 

 the most sceptical. 



In short, I received a few days since from A. B. Allen, 

 Esq. of Buffalo, the first pair of Berkshire pigs ever seen 

 in this country; and had I introduced an African lion, 

 I verily believe it would not have excited more curiosity. 

 They have been visited by hundreds, who had read the 

 description and seen the picture of them, every one of 

 whom believed it to be an overwrought description and 

 picture; and every one of whom is now convinced, that 

 "the half had not been told them." Were the pair that 

 I have as prolific as a swarm of bees, I have already had 

 more applications for pigs than I could supply. 



This, sir, is the benefit of demonstrating to the eyes of 

 the people the advantages of improvement in agriculture, 

 in stocks and implements of husbandry. This is one of 

 the fruits of agricultural journals. What a lesson may 

 every day be learnt by examining these fruits. It is a 

 lesson that should teach every philanthropic mind, how 

 much good he may do his country by a little exertion 

 to extend the reading of such journals, by the easy 

 method which I have several times pointed out before. 



And it is a positive duty that every friend to agricul- 



1 Part of this letter is quoted in an article on "Hogs," credited 

 to the Kentucky Farmer, which appeared in Cincinnati Western 

 Farmer and Gardener, 2:9-10 (October, 1840). 



2 Luther Tucker and Willis Gaylord began their joint editorship 

 of the Cultivator in January, 1840, succeeding Judge Jesse Buel. 



