16 



THE FARMEllS' REGISTER. 



iruihs useful to the pork raiders of the country. 

 Yet we dare say thai, il we were lo exercise our 

 right ol' either reiuruirig the communications ol' 

 gentlemen or ol expurgating ilieir perc-onal and 

 otieiisive expressions, ihey would gei into a high- 

 er passion on account ol' ilie act than they exliil)il 

 in tlicir produr.tioiie. Tliere is an exceeding de- 

 gree of sensibiliiy manilested by breeders vvtien- 

 evcr a discussion oi' ilie merits ol' lliis or that 

 breed ol animals is in hand. As much heat is 

 exhibited, by the advocates ol' the various breeds, 

 towards eacli other, as is usually observed be- 

 tween the diHereni pohiical parties. We shall 

 lake no side in these controversies. Throwing 

 our pages open alike to all, we have only 'o say 

 to each, bring Ibrward your strongest lacts and 

 give our read', rs the benefit of ihem. * * * 

 —FA. Ky. Far. 



Cincinnati, 2nd Dec, 1841. 



7'o the Editor of the Kentucky Farmer :— I 

 find on looking over various agricultural papers 

 of the United States, that Dr. S. D. Mariin of 

 Kentucky, has published a trial made by himsell 

 and James F. Taylor, of liieding a Berksliire 

 sow and two Woburns, for ten days, and as the 

 whole particulars of the case have not been pub- 

 lished by the Doctor, 1 leel anxious that ihey 

 should be, for the inlormaiion of all concerned, 

 and as he is such a stickler ior facts, he of course 

 will have no objections to what 1 am about to 

 ptate. 



What I learned of this trial of IL-edlng be- 

 tween Doctor Manin and Mr. Taylor, was at the 

 Doctor's own house last September, when I visii- 

 cd him m company with Mr. Affleck, editor of 

 the Farmer and Gardener. Here i met Mr. 

 .James t'. Taylor, and heard him and Dr. M. 

 discuss the whole subject, and I must conless, al- 

 ter which, 1 could not but wonder that the Doctor 

 had come out in the public prims and published 

 this trial, as 1 think it can be made to appear from 

 ail the facts in the case, that he has gained no- 

 thing by it, only so lar as it helps lo make a noise 

 about his hogs, and keep ihem belbre the public. 



It appears on the 13ih August last, Mr. Taylor 

 placed a Berkshire sow of his, and Dr. Martin 

 two Woburn sows, in the hands of a Mr. Wea- 

 thers, a disinterested man, to be fed (or ten days, 

 on 5 pounds of corn per day. Mr. Taylor is a 

 nephew of the Doctor, and Mr. "Weathers is 

 a tenant. These things I state because ihey are 

 facts. Well, as to the result. Doctor M. and Mr. 

 T. agreed as to the gain of the Berkshire sow 

 and one of the Woburns, which they said uas 

 21 pounds each on fifty-two pounds of corn ii. len 

 days, but upon that of ihe other Wobuni .-,,w, 

 Courtney, on the same allowance and same 

 number of days they disagreed. Doctor, M. as- 

 serting that she had gained 30 lbs., while Mr. 

 Taylor contended that she was incorrectly weigh- 

 ed, and that he did not believe that bhe had 

 made any such gain. I now contend that Doctor 

 M. has published to the world what is noi a fact, 

 for it is disputed by his own nephew, Mr. T., that 

 the Woburn sow, Courtney, did gain as much as 

 was represented she did. 



The Doctor goes on to state, from this trial 

 made with Mr. Taylor, that it is a lact thai ihe 

 Berkshire hog is a greater consumer than the 

 Woburn. (See his communication particularly 

 to the Tenaessee Agriculturist, November No. 



p. 259.) Now only hear what he told me in a 

 private conversation on this very subject. He 

 said that on the day he brought home his Wo- 

 burn sows from Mr. Weather's, he told his man 

 Patrick to put up Courlriey and give her as much 

 as she would eat lor two days, and then they 

 would weigh her again. He did so, and found 

 she eat a bucket of swill ! a bucket full of ap- 

 ples ! and nineteen ears of corn ! and gained 19 

 lbs., and from these facts, the Doctor concluded 

 that the Berkshires were the greatest consumers ! 

 The gain of 19 lbs. in the two days was princi- 

 pally in the weight of food given j^er, and with 

 which she had gorged herself, and I believe just 

 as.much in it, admitting that the Doctor was cor- 

 rect, as I do in an animal gaining 30 lbs. of flesh 

 on 51 lbs. of corn. Such a thing is utterly im- 

 possible, and if she did weigh 30 lbs. more at the 

 end of the ten days, it was because her stomach 

 was full of water, or something else besides the 

 51 lbs. corn consumed. 



It will now be seen, that the trial between 

 Messrs. Mariin and Taylor proves nothing at all 

 to me, regarding the relative merits of the difJe- 

 renl breeds of swine, and inasmuch as the Doctor 

 -has been bragging and bantering the whole world 

 to ((jed against his Woburns, and as I do not be- 

 lieve that there has ever been a fair test yet made, 

 I propose selecting six of my Berkshire pigs, 3 

 months old, and I call upon Dr. M. to select the 

 same number of his Woburns, and put them into 

 the hands of a disinterested man together, to be 

 fed fi-om twelve to fil'teen months in ihe usual- 

 method of feeding hogs for pork — to pasture them 

 in the summer, and to have all the grain mea- 

 sured that they consume, and then let them be 

 drove to this market or to any other that may be 

 agreed upon, and the hogs weighed alive, then 

 kil ed and weighed again, and the whole trial be 

 published to the world. 



I am now busy in packing pork in Covington, 

 Kentucky, and I wish to mention a. fact with re- 

 gard to a lot of 103 head oi' hogs, 69 of which 

 were one-half and three-quarters Berkshire, be- 

 longing to N. McNeese, of Harrison county, 

 Kentucky, the whole averaged 268 lbs., gross at 

 home, and after being driven 50 miles to this place, 

 and kept on hand lor several days, they were 

 slaughtered and weighed 219 lbs. net. The 

 usual loss between gross and net lots, in common 

 hogs, is one fourth and over, this shows a gain of 

 18 lbs. per head in this lot ; and had the Berk- 

 shire cross been weighed by themselves, it would 

 have been still greater. I "do not think their loss 

 between gross and net weight would have been 

 over 40 lbs. a hog, or less than one-sixth. 



So thoroughly am I convinced in ray own mind 

 that the Berkshire hog is superior to all others, 

 that i am anxious lo have a fair and impartial 

 test made between them and any other breed, 

 and the sooner it is done the better. As far as I 

 have been able lo learn from those to whom 1 

 have sold Berkshire pigs, none have been disap- 

 pointed in them. A correspondent of mine writes 

 from Tuscumbia, Alabama, under date of 19th 

 November last, informing me that a lot of Berk- 

 shire pigs i had sent him had arrived safely. He 

 said he had an opportunity of seeing one or two 

 pairs of Doctor Martin's thorough-bred Woburns, 

 "There is," says he, " humbuggery in the Doctor, 

 his hogs wo'n't do what he says they tw//." 



