SWINE. 369 



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 Suffolk," 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 " Im- 

 proved Suffolk," or that stock largely crossed with the Middle- 

 sex 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 Sanford Howard, Esq., a writer 

 whose opinion on stock is not second to that of any other 

 writer. 



" The following is a brief notice of some of the breeds of 

 domestic swine. It is only a few years since it was very com- 

 mon to hear an expression, signifying that the breed of a, hog 

 is in the food he gets. This notion has been, to a great ex- 

 tent, eradicated, but it is not yet without advocates. There 

 are still some who do not believe there is any thing 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 are, 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 cul- 

 ture, that which is the most crabbed and austere. They can- 

 not 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 supplies his lamp of life for five months in the year, 

 while the wolf and the fox remain gaunt and lean. They can- 

 not 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 efi'ects are obvious ; yet we cannot see their 

 causes, nor fully understand them. All we can say is, they re- 

 sult from the varied nature of things. They show, however, 

 that there is in the original germ of plants and animals, a 

 47* 



