1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



12S 



particularly (lie rot of the liver, which makes dread- 

 ful havoc amongst the Bakewelh, nor does it spare 

 the Highlander, especially when put on high keep. 

 1 cannot speak much of the appearance produced 

 by a Highland ram with the Bakewell ewe. Be- 

 ing fully convinced of the power of the male on 

 the offspring, I have always accounted it as loss to 

 put a bad male to a high-bred female, and have 

 never done so. I have, however, observed, where 

 the country people have purchased high-bred sheep 

 at any sale of mine, and bred from them with the 

 ordinary rams, that the breed very quickly got bad, 

 whereas, when a Bakewell ram had been purcha- 

 sed, I have seen a most remarkable chanae on the 

 quality of the sheep ; and in several instances 

 where the ewes had been tolerable from which 

 they had bred, the cross was so nearly resembling 

 a new Leicester, as to deceive any one who was 

 not a thorough judge. As I wish to confine my- 

 self to facts which have come under my own ob- 

 servation, I shall forbear to mention circumstances 

 which tend to prove the great power in the male 

 as to influence in the progeny o( the ewe, as I 

 have them from others ; and shall conclude with 

 the sow. 



The influence of the male in this animal is as 

 great as in the sheep. A few facts will show I his. 

 A Iriend of mine, soon after I commenced (arm- 

 ing, [thinking, no doubt, to do me a great kind- 

 ness,] made me a present of a sow of the wild 

 species, in pig to a boar of the same sort. She 

 was sent to me by sea, and during the voyage she 

 broke out of the crib into which she had been put, 

 and when the crew attempted to replace her, she 

 attacked them with open mouth, and forced them 

 to take shelter in the rigging. I put her into a 

 high walled field, where she showed every mark 

 of a wild animal, starting off at the least noise, and 

 running very swiftly to some concealment. When 

 the time of littering came near, she set to 

 work, and carried in her mouth great quantities of 

 withered grass and rushes, till she had a heap the 

 size of on ordinary hay-cock. Here she had ten 

 young ones, so concealed that no trace of them 

 could be seen. When the heap was approached, 

 she made a noise something like the bark of a dog, 

 ran furiously to attack the person who had the te- 

 merity to invade lier abode. In a short time the 

 young ones made their apperance, they were all 

 perfectly alike, being of a red or dark yellow co- 

 lor, with regular black stripes, like a tiger or zebra, 

 down the sides. As they grew old they became 

 darker, till they resembled the sow, which was of 

 a port wine color. When it became necessary to 

 take them, the mother was secured by a noose 

 thrown over her, and the young ones were hunted 

 down by a number of men. When escape was 

 impossible, they gave battle, and offered to bite 

 very furiously. 



I now put the old one into confinement, where 

 she had a second litter to one of the pigs, which 

 were in all points like the first. I next put her to 

 a boar of the Duke of Bedford's improved breed. 

 At once the litter had a totally different appear- 

 ance; the pigs were all difit^rent from each other, 

 some had a slight kmd of stripe, some none, some 

 were light, some dark. Those which liad stripes 

 when littered lost them, and grew lighter in the 

 color as they grew up. The leg had become short- 

 er, as had the snout. They soon inclined to come 

 eut of the inside stye to the feeding trough, when 



the feeder put meat in it, and would feed wliile 

 he stood by; and, lastly, they proved much better 

 thrivers, getting very fat, which the old one and 

 all the former pigs refused to do. I gave a neigh- 

 bora boar of the first litter which he put to several 

 of the Duke of Bedford's sows, where the change 

 was equally manifest ; the zebra stripe, the long 

 snout, and the length of the leg appearing in the 

 whole of the young ones. I was now very sick 

 of the sight of them, and sold them all off. 



My stock now consisted of a cross between the 

 Duke of Bedford's and Squire Western's improv- 

 ed Essex, and were as fine as any I ever saw, be- 

 ing as remarkable for lameness and good nature 

 as the sort I have been speaking of were for the 

 contrary. After breeding flom these for some 

 years, they at last got such a tendency to get fat 

 that they were entirely lard, and almost useless 

 from being too fat. Pork at this time had declined 

 so much in the market, and the prices were so far 

 fi-om remunerating ones, that i parted with my 

 whole stock but one sow at what they would fetch, 

 thinking the first loss the best. From this sow I 

 had too litters [previous to reducing my stock,] by 

 the full bred boar. They were like hersellj short 

 in the snout, had very small ears, hardly any legs, 

 and were so tame that they would eat a few oats 

 out of the man's hand wlio fed ihem. Having 

 now no boar of my own, I had to look out for one; 

 and being informed that a gentleman and neigh- 

 bor of mine had a pretty good one, I sent a man 

 and a cart to beg the loan of him. I chanced to 

 be in my yard when the man returned. My sur- 

 prise was great when I found he had a beast muz- 

 zled and tied down with aquantity of ropes; and on 

 his being turned into the sty, he proved to be a beast 

 raving and foaming at the mouth, with long legs, 

 a long snout, ears twice the size of the sow, and a 

 long shaggy coat covering lank sides. In short, it 

 looked as if my man had got a hyena out of Mr. 

 Polito's caravan, rather than a boar from my neigh- 

 bor's farm-yard ; and, when put together, they by 

 no means answered to the words of tlie old song : 

 " Oh sure a pair was never seen 

 So justly formed to meet by nature." 



The oflspring of this alliance was exactly what 

 I expected ; the cross had greatly increased the 

 size, the pigs being longer than either of the pa- 

 rents, while much of the boar was to be discover- 

 ed in them ; the snout had considerably lengthen- 

 ed, as had the ears and legs. The whole of my 

 breed were pure while, with hardly any hair on 

 them. The pigs were some black, some spotted, 

 and had a sufficient supply of bristles ; and above 

 all, they were lively, active, wild things, refusing 

 to come near their food while any one stood by, 

 and had lost much of the tendency to get flit. 

 (To be continued.) 



STRICTURK AND DEFENCE. HAS SILK-CUL- 

 TURE BEEN STRONGLY AND UNEQUIVO- 

 CALLY RECOBIM ENDED BY THE FARBIERs' 

 REGISTER? 



We have just been shown by a friend a pas- 

 sage of a private letter (dated Feb. 12th,) intend- 

 ed lor reproof and correction of our editorial course; 

 in the matter stated. The lines are as follows : 



