266 AGEICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 



upon the question of rural improvement, which, as 

 men's minds sober down, must eventually take place. 

 Still I was agreeably surprised, both at the extent of 

 the preparations I saw making on my arrival, and with 

 the appearance of the town and of the show-yard on the 

 day of the exhibition. The latter was not so extensive 

 nor so crowded as that of Syracuse, but much more 

 numerously attended by well-dressed and well-behaved 

 people, and rendered attractive by a greater quantity of 

 excellent stock and implements than I had at all anticipated. 



The best of the stock was brought from the western 

 part of the province. Among them were superior Short- 

 horns, a few Devons, and some Ayrshires — all of pure 

 blood. The greater number, however, were crosses, 

 which, as in the States, are here called grades. The 

 Leicester sheep were very fine, and the prize pigs — 

 chiefly Berkshlres — excellent. 



The pig husbandry in Canada and in the province of 

 New Brunswick, to be conducted economically, requires 

 to be somewhat modified in comparison with the method 

 adopted in Ohio, and the other large hog-growing and 

 Indian-corn producing States. Of the vast number 

 slaughtered at Cincinnati after harvest, the ages vary 

 from a minimum of eleven to a maximum of nineteen 

 months. They are generally kept over one winter, 

 and packed before the next commences. In the pro- 

 vinces, the first diflSculty which the settler has to over- 

 come is that of laying in a sufficient stock of food for 

 the long months of winter 5 and although the intro- 

 duction of a better husbandry will by-and-by greatly 

 lessen this difficulty, yet at present it is a main object 

 with the farmer to get the winter over at as little cost of 

 food as possible. The aim in regard to pigs is, there- 

 fore, to obtain a breed which shall litter in April, and 

 can be fed to produce a barrel of pork (196 lb.) in 

 November or December of the same year, and thus to 



