88 



about five months old. And if these are to be taken as evidence of 

 the " town's keep," one might well consider it the best aldermanic 

 habitation in the count/. 



Henry Goulding, of Dover, also offered, under the head of weaned 

 pigs, five fifteen-sixteenths Suffolk pigs of five months. They were 

 large of their age, and showed great aptitude to fatten, even on a 

 short allowance. 



Hiram W. Jones, of Dover, exhibited — not offered for premium — 

 six pigs, one-half Suffolk, which looked as happy as do the pigs " lying 

 in the very best of straw." 



Eben Wight, of Dedham, filled several pens with Suffolk sows. Im- 

 proved Essex sows, and their progeny, but consequent on his being 

 of the Committee, they could only be offered for exhibition. 



Probably no County in the State can show so good a stock of 

 swine as can the County of Norfolk, diligent care having been 

 taken in the selection and importation of the choicest breeds in 

 vogue. 



Although the number shown was sufficient to fill nearly all the 

 pens, and the swine were in every instance excellent, still the amount 

 intended to have been shown would have trebled those on the grounds 

 had the weather proved propitious. The Committee learned from 

 many individuals known to be good breeders of the " Improved Suf- 

 folk," that the pigs were boxed to be forwarded, but detained over 

 till the second day, hoping for more favorable weather. 



As previously stated, nearly all the swine were of the " Improved 

 Suffjlk," or that stock largely crossed with the Middlesex or the 

 Mackay. In order, therefore, more fully to illustrate the value of such 

 breeds or varieties as are generally brought to your grounds, they 

 give a lengthy extract from the admirable Paper on Swine, drawn up 

 by San ford Howard, Esq., a writer whose opinion on stock is not 

 second to that of any other writer. 



" The following is a brief notice of som.e of the breeds of domestic 

 swine. It is only a few years since it was very common to hear an 

 expression signifying that the breed of a hog is in the food he gets. 

 This notion has been to a great extent eradicated, but it is not yet 

 without advocates. There are still some who do not believe there is 

 anything in the breed, because they ' cannot see how it is ; ' but 

 that is no reason for denying the fact. They cannot see how it is 

 that in the seeds of a fruit, (as of the pear, for instance,) all of which 



