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ions as far as practicable to know precisely how far they cor- 

 respond with or disappoint them. 



The profit of fatting pork with us has become much more 

 questionable since such vast amounts of salted pork and hams 

 are brought into our markets from Ohio and the far Western 

 States, through the great and constantly increasing facilities of 

 transportation. It is judged that much more than a year's sup- 

 ply is now on hand in the city of New York, and the new has 

 not begun to come in. 



This must essentially affect our markets. But it is to be 

 considered that to a certain extent our own pork here will al- 

 ways be preferred ; and that fresh pork, the lean pieces, will 

 always be wanted in our market, with which the Western 

 pork cannot at present come into competition, though after the 

 experience of the last five years, it might be almost rashness 

 to say that our markets may not yet be supplied with roasting 

 pigs and fresh spare-ribs from Cincinnati. Then again there 

 is on every farm a certain amount of refuse and offal, which 

 may be profitably given to hogs, and would otherwise be lost. 

 There is another circumstance, which must go to the credit of 

 our swine. Manure in Middlesex county is every where valu- 

 ed at least at 4 dollars per cord on the farm. A hog duly sup- 

 plied with the raw material, for a hog cannot, more than an Is- 

 raelite, make bricks without straw, will make three cords of 

 valuable manure in a year. A sow well kept likewise, may 

 raise a litter of pigs, and may be fitted for the market in the 

 same year. These circumstances may encourage us to think 

 that, in spite of Western competition, a certain amount of pork 

 may be profitably fatted among us every year. It is compara- 

 tively a recent discovery that apples are as good for fatting 

 swine as potatoes. This opinion has been expressed to me by 

 many farmers in this county. Apples may be cultivated to an 

 indefinite extent and at a small expense. We may easily avail 

 ourselves of this advantage. The opinion of many of these far- 

 mers is, that they are better given raw than cooked. This 

 point will, I hope, be made matter of experiment. The fat- 



