SWINE. 233 



• 

 generally preferred. The number of pure bloods of this breed 

 in our county is so small and the price so high, that farmers 

 persuade themselves that they cannot do what tlieir best judg- 

 ment would dictate, in order to get a class of sheep that would 

 be much more remunerative than those which they now keep. 

 It is to be hoped that the English custom of letting out bucks 

 for the season will be introduced here, which would render the 

 improvement of stock much less expensive. 



It onght to be impressed on the mind of every farmer in our 

 county that there is no way by which he can so easily improve 

 his farm and increase his profits, as by giving his closest atten- 

 tion to his sheep. 



Charles Burton, Chairman. 



SWINE. 



MIDDLESEX. 



From the Report of the Committee. 



If you take a healthy pig and put him in a clean warm place 

 and give him as much Indian meal and grass of other green 

 food as he will eat, there is no doubt you will have good pork. 

 But will it pay to make pork in this way ? Let us look into 

 this subject a little. It is said that seven pounds of meal will 

 make one pound of pork. When corn weighs fifty-six pounds 

 a bushel, seven pounds is one-eighth of a bushel. At seventy- 

 five cents a bushel, one-eighth is nine and three-eighth cents ; so 

 that pork at this rate would cost nine and three-eighths cents 

 per pound. 



If you buy a pig six weeks old for $2.50, which is about the 

 common price, and at the end of a year he weighs three hundred 

 and fifty-six pounds, you think he has done well. This is more 

 than the average. But seven pounds of meal to each pound of 

 pork, at seventy-five cents per bushel, would amount to $34.22 ; 

 now add the $2.50 which you paid for the pig, and you have 

 $36.72. At six cents a pound, three hundred and sixty-five 

 pounds would amount to $21.90, or $14.82 less than cost. At 

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