234 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



five or six cents a pound, it is cheaper to buy than to make 

 pork. You cannot afford to make pork to sell, certainly, out 

 of Indian meal. If you can persuade yourself that the differ- 

 ence in quality will make up the difference in price, then you 

 may make one pig in this way for your own use ; but you can- 

 not afford to make pork for the market. Then what is to be 

 done ? " Out West," where corn is worth twelve or fourteen 

 cents a bushel, or about one-fourth of a cent per pound, and 

 seven pounds costs one and three-fourths, instead of nine and 

 three-eighths cents, they can make pork profitably even at three 

 cents a pound. But what are we to do ? 



It seems to your committee that our inquiries may be brought 

 within very narrow limits. First. Is there any breed of swine 

 that will make a pound of pork at a less rate per pound ? 

 Second. Is there any cheaper food that, with our present breeds, 

 will make pork at a less rate per pound ? And is there any 

 method of managing them better than we now practice ? There 

 can be no doubt, we presume, that the cross of the Suffolk 

 breed with our old long-legged, flap-eared, large-boned breed, 

 has produced a race of hogs that will take on fat more rapidly 

 and at a much cheaper rate than the old breed did. This cross 

 is the one that now seems to be in fashion. We may here 

 remark, that fashion seems to determine the breed of hogs, as 

 well as the form of ladies' bonnets or the material of their 

 skirts. If the fashion plates of new breeds of hogs do not 

 come out quite as frequently as the fashion plates of ladies' 

 dresses, they are certainly got up with a good deal of inge- 

 nuity, and show much skill in the draftsmen. For proof of 

 this we refer to the plates in the New England Farmer, and in 

 the annual State Agricultural Reports. 



There is no doubt that a pound of Suffolk pork can be made 

 with less meal than a pound of any other kind of pork. This 

 breed is disposed to pile on fat at a rapid rate. But, owing 

 probably to this very tendency, it is difficult to raise Suffolk 

 pigs. They are poor breeders. Tliey do not grow as large as 

 other breeds, and their pork when grown is too fat. These 

 objections are so serious, that the pure Sulfolks seem to have 

 gone out of fashion. The crosses with other breeds, prove 

 better breeders, grow larger, and have more streaks of lean 

 mixed with the pork, which is considered an improvement by 



