176 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 3 



,^ood deal remarkable. "By the breath of God 

 Irost is given, and the breadth of the waters is 

 straitened." (Job 37. 10.) It appears from this, 

 that in Job's time the Ireezing, in his part of Ara- 

 bia, was sometimes so considerable that the edges 

 of the streams were so frozen as to contract their 

 channels. I much doubt whether there is cold 

 much more intense than this, even at the present 

 day. But in the ciiapter immediately followimg 

 that from which the last quotalion is taken, a de- 

 gree of cold still more intense is spoken of "Out 

 of whose womb came the ice 7 and the hoary frost 

 of Heaven, who hath gendered it? The waters are 

 hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is 

 ii-ozen." (Job 38. 29, 30.] Although the two 

 verses last quoted are introduced as spoken by the 

 Almighty himseltj and may therelbre, be supposed 

 to refer lo other countries than that of Arabia, yet 

 the Almighty speaks to Job, as of things with 

 which Job himself was acquainted. It is not ne- 

 cessary here to discuss the question whether the 

 book of Job be a real history, or a fictitious poem, 

 or extended poetical parable, II suits my purpose 

 equally on either supposition. If we refer to the 

 book of Psalms and to the prophets we shall find 

 cold and snow frequently mentioned. When any 

 thing is spoken of as exceedingly white, it is com- 

 pared to snow ; "as white as snow." Sometimes 

 things are said to be as white as wool. But wool 

 in a tropical climate ceases to be wool, and be 

 comes hair. If we inquire into the mode of liv 

 ing of the ancient inhabitants of Palestme, we find 

 that was the same thousands of years ago that it 

 is now. They were in very early times chiefly a 

 pastoral people ; as population increased they be- 

 came more agricultural. In their pastoral state 

 they had herds ol' cattle, and flocks of sheep, and 

 goats. Are these animals which indicate a cli- 

 mate much warmer than that of Palestine at the 

 present day] But when the people of Palestine, 

 or a portion of them, became agriculturists what 

 grains did they cultivate 1 We find it was barley 

 and wheat. JBoaz, who seems to have farmed ex- 

 tensively, and lived about years before Christ, 

 cultivated barley and wheat. Are those grains 

 Euited to a climate much warmer than Palestine is 

 in our day? But if we refer to the Greek histo- 

 rians, as Herodotus, Xenophon, Thucydidet--, &c., 

 do we find in them any thing which would lead 

 us to believe that the temperature of the countries 

 of which they treat was warmer in ancient times 

 than it is at present? But if we come down to 

 the history of Rome, what do we there find on 

 this subject? From whence did Rome obtain 

 her vvheat? Was it not from Sicily, from Egypt, 

 and from the countries now called the Barbary 

 states? But if we come down to modern times 

 what do we find to have been the progress of 

 agriculture? We find the culture of wheat lias been 

 gradually extending in Europe, from south lo 

 north, not from north to south as certain philo- 

 pophic theories would lead us to believe. When 

 Marshall, the agricultural tourist, travelled through 

 Fome of the northern countries, he found, if I re- 

 member rifrbt, very little wheat in the northern 

 parts of Germany, in Denmark and Sweden. 

 The cuHure of that grain ha? been, almost ever 

 since 



If the temperature of our world has changed, I 

 think, so far as history goes, we might be justifia- 

 ble in asserting that the temperature of the world 

 is becoming warmer. I remember to have seen a 

 book between 45 and 50 years ago, written ex- 

 pressly to maintain this opinion. The author ad- 

 duced a great many facts in support of his posi- 

 tion, all of which I have forgotten except two. 

 One of those fiicts was, that we have accounts in 

 ancient history, of armies being stopped in their 

 march by great falls of snow in countries where, 

 in modern times, snow never falls in quantities suf- 

 ficient to produce such an efi'ect. The other fact 

 v>?as that, in ancient times, the rein-deer were in- 

 habitants of the Black Forest in Germany ; but the 

 climate becoming too warm for them they retreat- 

 ed to the northern parts of Germany ; but that 

 country becoming too warm they retreated to Lap- 

 land, and spreading themselves around the north- 

 ern end of Europe, (bund a country whose cli- 

 mate, as yet, is sufficiently cold for their com- 

 fort. How far those alledged facts can be sup- 

 ported by history I do not undertake to say ; but _ 

 I do say that I know of no historical facts which m 

 lead me to believe, or even suspect, that the tem- " 

 perature of our earth is colder now than it was as 

 far back as history extends. For a few years 

 past, we have had, in the United States, winters 

 very unfavorable to the growth of vvheat. But 

 this did not arise so much from the coldness of the 

 winters as from their peculiar character — little 

 snow, and a succession of freezings and thawings. 

 If we had had snow as in former times, our wheat 

 would not have frozen out, Sekex. 



I 



From tlic Genesee Farmer. 

 IMPROVED BREEDS OF SWINE. 



The production of pork is one of the most valu- 

 able and important staples of the farmers of the 

 United States: and the swine of our country are 

 scarcely second in value, as farm-stock, to the en- 

 tire amount of its neat cattle. Besides converting 

 the offal and coarser and less valuable of the farm 

 products into a marketable commodity in the feed- 

 ing ol' swine, the richest and most Juxuriant grain 

 of the country is usually devoted to their prepara- 

 tion (or market ; and throughout the whole interior, 

 in the pork-crop of the (iirmer is combined the sur- 

 plus of his root cultivation, and the net proceeds 

 of his coarser grains : the gross result of all de- 

 pending on the final proceeds of his pork account. 



This is a very important matter for the farmer. 

 The entire modus operandi of rural economy ia 

 more or less concerned in a subject so interesting 

 in its results of profit or of loss ; and is entitled, 1 

 fancy, to infinitely more consideration than is usu- 

 ally bestowed upon it. 



With most of our farmers, even at the present 

 day, particularly in the western country, among 

 that numerous and wide-spread class whose prin- 

 cipal dependence is on their pork crop for reward, 

 a hog is simply a hog — the name comprising all 

 of excellence in the animal necessary to produce 

 the article of pork required. 



The biute in ques 

 gradually extending farther and farther t tion, (or it deserves no 6of^er name, is indigenous 



north, hie well known that, within the last half 

 century, the cultivation of wheat has been rapidly 

 extending northward in England and Si;otland. i 



to the country. It exists in the streets of our cities, 

 in the highways of our ordinary firming districts, 

 and in the forests of the west and soutli — and in, 



