598 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



value of the Berkshire breed of hogs. Bui that 

 we hold agricultural cheats and hunibuggers, pre- 

 tending to be agriciihural improvers and bene- 

 faclors, in most especial conlempt.— Ed. F. R.] 



From the Cultivator. 



Messrs. Gaylord and Tucker — 1 have looked 

 on with much amusement, at the quackery at- 

 tempted to be practised on ihe public, relative to 

 Berkshire swine ; and have been not a little sur- 

 prised at the assumed dictation of individuals, 

 whose knowledge of this bretd, its changes and 

 varieties, has been lindled to a i'ew important 

 animals and their descendants ; and who have un- 

 derl.ikeii to deiermine, fioin the color ofsome hall 

 dozen hogs brought to this country by INlr. Hawes, 

 how many white hairs cotisiitute a lull blood, and 

 how many black leet betray a grade; to say no- 

 thing of the twist in the tail, and the bunch ol 

 hairs at its end. Now really, gentlemen, you 

 nuist not wonder that there are scolfe.is at " book 

 (arming, " and those among us who set lightly by 

 (he scribbling of sell luve ; and while there are 

 many who hitrhly appreciate the much that is 

 useful and instructive in your columns, we must 

 beg leave to laugh at the ridiculous, as its best 

 cure. 



It is truly astonishing, that any one should dis- 

 play such wol'ul ignorattce as to the real origin 

 and history of the liogs which now fill his sty, as 

 is exhibited by an Albany breeder, in a late num- 

 ber of the Cultivator. He calls them " the full- 

 bred Berksbires." Let us examine this matter a 

 little, and see what are the characteristics of the 

 Berkshires, as given by Enulidh writers. Lou- 

 don, Cully, "The Com()Ietc Grazier," Parkinson, 

 and Low, all agree, with some little differences ni 

 expression, in assigning to the original Beiksliires. 

 a lawny or reddish Irovvn color, with ilark spots. 

 To this, 1 would add my own testimony, having 

 formerly been myself a resident in the county ol 

 Berkshire. The pure-bred native hog at that time 

 was spotted, black and white, in nearly equal pro- 

 portions, with a greater or less intermixture of 

 reddish hairs, giving a iiirruginous hue to the 

 whole coat. They were a long, large, heavy hog ; 

 rather Hat in the side, always lull, and meaty in the 

 ham; somewhat slope romped, a little heavy in 

 the bone, something straight in the face, but with 

 a tolerable fulness in the jole, and a drooping ear; 

 their hair was inclined to coarseness, and olien 

 curly. On the farm where I lived, they were sel- 

 dom put up to fatten till three years old ; and when 

 fit to kill, would average from twenty-five to 

 thirty-five score. We used them lor bacon, con- 

 sidering they made better hams and flitches, than 

 any other breed. These were the hoijs univer- 

 sally Ibund in Berkshire, in my da}'. Mr. Astley 

 ofOldstonehall, has, I believe, the merit of having 

 improved this breed as above described, by a judi- 

 cious introduction of the eastern blood ; and the 

 hog thus formed, has been crossed upon almost 

 every race in England, in all cases with the most 

 advantaceous results. It is a cross of this impro- 

 ved Berkshire with the Chinese, which we have 

 in this country, under the name of (ull-bred Berk- 

 shires. As to color, had that come under the con- 

 sideration of the breeder, he might have varied 

 it from pure white to jet black, by making use of 

 the white or black Chinese, with strict reference 



to such a result, i shall no! pretend to decide which 

 color has claims to superiority, although the black 

 China is considend the most hardy and prolific, 

 while the while is perhaps the better formed. 

 Whether these difierences are sensible in their 

 crosses on the Berkshire, I am not prepared to 

 decide. Again — there is of course, great variety 

 of size, and some of loim. according to the number 

 and character of the crosses taken li'ora the va- 

 rious races. Many ol the smaller Berkshires, so 

 desirable as porkers, are without doubi descended 

 from a cross of the Aslbrds, in which there is a 

 dash of the Barbadoes blood, strongly tending to 

 confirm the reddish tinge of the old breed. But, 

 without entering laither into detail, I think I have 

 said enough to expose the utter absurdity of these 

 critical distinctions of color, even to the "em- 

 blems" of three white toes, &c., which have been 

 held up to just ridicule in some of our late agri- 

 cultural papers. And who shall sny now that he 

 alone has 7'he improved Berkshires I What is to 

 become ol the " 7tuc/gu;icA:" cross, the '' Hamp- 

 shire"' of Ihe present day, in which the Berkshire 

 blood siongiy predominates ; the fine boned and 

 delicate " Dishley,'''' said to lay on a larger quan- 

 tity of meat in nroporiion to bone and oflal, than 

 any other kind ; Lord Western's celebrated breed 

 of" ihe Essex half blacks,^'' considered by many to 

 be the finest in England 1 What is to become 

 ol these and many others, all of then) crosses of 

 the Berkshire liinnly ? I would ask, then, on 

 what grounds the Albany importation claim to be 

 the standard of" The Improved Berkshires?" 



In the extra accompanying the May number of 

 the " Cultivator," I saw an advertisement of"Pure 

 Berkshires, without any alluy of black Siamese or 

 common white iiogs." 1 sliuuld really tie glad to 

 see one of the animals, for an improved Berkshire, 

 wiihout any of the eastern blood in him, cannot 

 probably be Ibund in England. 



I was much gratified to see in the last "Cultiva- 

 tor," an article relative to "true size." The 

 writer indeed lays down the golden rule on that 

 subject. "The greatest weiglu in the smallest 

 relative compass ; weight for inches, not for super- 

 fice.'" Now, this is just as true with regard to 

 swine, as to cattle. What is it that our breeders 

 are doing, urged by the mania lor size, but breed- 

 ing back again as fast as possible to the old unim- 

 proved Berkshire, thus undoing in their wisdom 

 all that the science of England has accomplished 

 in so many years? But. say our western friends, 

 we must have size, to fill the pork barrel. Fill 

 it with what '? Heads and shanks'? They will 

 indeed fill the barrel, but not the consumer, which 

 is a far more important consideration. If the 

 Berkshires can be forced to an increased size, and 

 still retain their light offal, well and good — provi- 

 ded they do not degenerate into the coarse animal, 

 of which there may be no little danger. But I 

 would not be understood as advocating the paltry, 

 short-sighted policy of those from whom we ex- 

 pected better things ; who have sent away such 

 " rifl^'-rafl," to meet the pressing demand for Berk- 

 shires, as would induce one to suppose the very 

 scourings of a city suburb had been collected for 

 the purpose. How mucli more conducive to their 

 own true interests, has been the course pursued 

 by that shrewd, far-seeing people, the Shakers 

 of Watervliel, in carefijily preserving Ihe size of 

 their animals, to which I presume they are main- 



