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arc to outward appearances just alike, and probably would appear so 

 by the nicest chemical test — some will produce fruit the most 

 delicious and melting, and others, with precisely the same soil and 

 culture, that which is the most crabbed and austere. They cannot 

 see how it is that the bear should line and cover his carcass with fat 

 to an amount nearly equal to half his whole weight, and which sup- 

 plies his lamp of life for five months in the year, while the wolf and 

 the fox remain gaunt and lean. They cannot see how it is that the 

 same kind of food, when eaten by the ox, the sheep, the turkey, or 

 the common fowl, produces meat, which, to human taste, is of very 

 different qualities. 



" All these effects are obvious ; yet we cannot see their causes, nor 

 fully understand them. All we can say is, they result from the 

 varied nature of things. They show, however, that there is in the 

 original germ of plants and animals, a principle which produces 

 certain peculiarities greatly affecting their value for the purposes of 

 man. This principle is not only manifested in the characteristics of 

 different species, but exists more or less in varieties of the same 

 species. We see its effects in the different kinds of wheat, and in 

 other species of grain — in varieties of peas, beans, apples, potatoes, 

 &c., — and in the peculiarities of the different varieties of the dog, 

 the sheep, the hog, and other domestic animals. It is man's business 

 to study these peculiarities, and secure and apply them in those ways 

 •which will render them most subservient to his wants. 



" In regard to swine, it is to be regretted that the difference in the 

 various breeds has not been demonstrated by exact experiments. 

 We are, however, in possession of certain facts of great importance 

 in the case. For instance, many farmers have found that on the 

 same amount and kind of food, some hogs Avill gain much faster than 

 others ; that some will become fiit on uncooked vegetable food, as 

 raw apples, while others require grain or meal to bring them to a 

 slaughtering condition ; that some will keep in good order, and will 

 thrive on clover or grass only, while others can scarcely live on such 

 fare ; that in some, the tendency to fatten is so great, that it is 

 necessary to keep them on very low diet to insure their breeding. 



" There is not only a difference in the amount of meat which dif- 

 ferent swine are capable of acquiring from an equal amount of food, 

 but there is a great difference in the quality of the meat. Some 

 persons, doubting this, may say, ' pork is pork ; ' so ' beef is beef;' 



