370 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



principle which produces certain peculiarities greatly aflecting 

 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 ex- 

 periments. 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 

 will gain much faster than others ; that some will become fat 

 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 

 different 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; ' but is there not a great difference in the 

 texture and flavor of beef from cattle of different breeds ? This 

 difference is so well understood in Ehgland, that the prices of 

 beef are, to a considerable extent, regulated by the breed — the 

 West Highlanders and Galloways taking the first rank, then 

 the Herefords and Devons, and last, the Short-horns. A simi- 

 lar scale of prices regulates the market in reference to mutton 

 from various breeds of sheep. The difference in the meat of 

 swine is not less striking. Some have a thick skin, with flesh 

 of an open, coarse texture, and unpleasant flavor ; others a thin 

 skin, with fine-grained, well-flavored flesh. Some convert their 

 food almost wholly into fat, while in others it enters chiefly into 



