56S 



[<' A H iM E H S ' li E G 1 S V E K . 



[No. 9 



in New Eiiixland aiul perh,ip.-> in /Vincrica. When 

 first iniporied, Capt. JMat-key, on his farm at 

 Wcsiun, not unl're(|ii<'n!ly I'rouL'ht iheni up to 

 600II).-J. attlicage of 8 nionilis. In all ilie e.-^sen- 

 li;il pointa, such as iiiainrinif early, Ii;ghinc5s ul oi- 

 lal, trrealer weiijilit in the more proliialjle partj;, 

 thinness of skin, &r., iliey ^really exceeded the 

 Berkshire breed. But by breeding in-andiii as it 

 is termed, they had jjieaily degeneruled, hiul be- 

 come weak and leeble in con.sliintion, small in 

 pizft, ill shaped, anil in some instaiiceb- delbrmed. 

 With the excepiion ofiite human species, no ani- 

 mal degenerates so rapidly by this practice of 

 breeding in-and-in as the hog. Judicious crossing 

 is ibe only way by which a irood breed of swine 

 can be kept np at\d preserved. By proper atten- 

 tion to this principle; ail good and valuable (]iiahiies 

 of a breed may be preserved, and the bad rejected; 

 without it, the best breeds will soon become 

 worthless. With a view of restoring some of the 

 good properties of the JN'lackey, I tried cro.osinix 

 them with various breeds, and with none hav« 

 I succeeded so well as with the Berkshire. The 

 produce of this cross possesses all the good and 

 valuable points ol the Mackey, united to tlie health, 

 vigor and size, without any of the coarseness ol 

 the Berkshire. The best piirs, however, that I 

 have ever raised, and I can say without hesitation, 

 the best I have ever seen, were produced by put- 

 ting a full-blood Berkshire boar to a siw which 

 was a cross of Mackey with the "M'lco," a New 

 York breed, the progeny beinjx half Berkshire, a 

 quarter Mackey, and a quarter Muco. 



JNly stock oi" (iittcning swine usutiily consists of 

 about one hundred, besides about fifty stores [or 

 etock swine.] My time Ibr slaughtering is in 

 February and Marcli, when half my pigs arc at 

 the age of 15 and 16 months, being the fall and 

 winter litters of the previous year, the other half 

 being the piirs of the sprinir next [)revious to killing, 

 and are at the age of 9 and 10 months. The !()r- 

 nier in years past have weight Irom 350 to 400 Uis., 

 and in some instances as high as 500 lbs. The 

 latter from 250 to 350 lbs. 



An inquiry is often made as to the best time of 

 killin?;0r wiiat age it is mo?t profitable to slaugh- 

 ter ihem. On a large farm where much green 

 herbage is produced, and where tlie value of the 

 manure is taken into the account, I consider the 

 pigs killed at the aL'e of 15 and IG months as giv- 

 iii'i the L'realest profit. When it is intetideil to 

 kill them at ihisaijre, they may bf k'^pt on more or- 

 dinary and e'leapf^r li)od (or the first 10 ar 12 months 

 or till within 4 or 5 months of the time of killing. 

 The manure they make, and the extra weiirhl ol 

 pork, more than pay ihe expense incurred in keep- 

 iriiT them the lonijer tim- ; but the (spring pigs 

 which are to be killed the ensuing winter and 

 Ft>rincr, must be kept upon the best of Ibod, from 

 the lime ilx-v are taken Irom the sow un'il ihey are 

 shioghtered. 



The older class of pitrs for the first 10 or 12 

 months, are kept principally upon bivw; rs' grains, 

 wi'h a pmall quantity of Indian or barle\- meal or 

 rice, rata baija, suirar beet, &c., and in the season 

 of clover, peas, oats, corn-stalks, weeds, &c,, they 

 are cut irreen and thrown into thi* pens; the next 

 ^■)!"r orfive months b-^f ire kiUmtr Ihey have as much 

 Indian meal, barley ni'^al or rice, with an equal 

 qu Mi'itv of potatoes, apriles or pttmnkins as tliev 

 vvill e-»t, the wliO'C being well cooked and iialted, 



and given to them about blood warm. During the 

 season ol'litllening, an ear or two of hard corn ia 

 every day given to each [)ig. 'J'his small quantity 

 they will digest well, and ofcourse there is no waste. 

 Shelled corn soaked in water, made as salt as ihe 

 waier of the ocean, Ibr 48 hours, with a quart of 

 wood ashes added to each bushel, and given to 

 them occasionally in small quantities, greatly pro- 

 moles their health and growth. 'J'heir health and 

 appetite is also greatly promoted by throwing a 

 handful of charcoal once or twice a week into each 

 of their pens. Their principal Ibod should, liowe- 

 ever, be cooked as thoroughly and as nicely as if 

 inlendeil Ibr table uae. From long praciice and 

 repeated experiments, I am convinced thai two dol- 

 lars worth of materials well cooked, will make as 

 much pork as three dollars worth of the same ma- 

 terials given in a raw slate. 



Pigs when first taken from Ihe sow should be 

 treated with great care, lo prevent scouring and 

 Irom becoming stinied; when either of these htip- 

 pen>, it will require many days, and sometimea 

 weeks, to put them again into a healthy, growing 

 condilion. When first deprived of their natural 

 Ibod, a liiile new or skim milk, boiled and slightly 

 salted, and given to them oi'ien and in small (jiian- 

 lities, will prevent scouring, and ureatly promote 

 their growth. If intended for killinsj ;it ihe age 

 of 9 or 10 months, they ehouKl be full led all tlie 

 time, and kept growing as fast as possible. If on the 

 other hand they are intended lor killing at the age of 

 15 or 18 months, they should not be full fed, nor be 

 made very liu Ibr the first 10 or 12 months. 



To satisly myself of the benefit of this course, 

 I took six of my best piixs, 8 weeks old, all of Ihe 

 same litter, and shut ihem in two pens, three in 

 each. Three ol these I led very high, and kept 

 tiiem as liu all the time as ihey could be made. 

 The other three were fed sparinirly, upon coarse 

 Ibod, but kept in a healthy, growing condition, till 

 wiihin Ibur or five rnonths of the lime of killing, 

 when they were \'ei\ as high as the others. They 

 were all slaughtered at the same time, being then 

 10 months old. At the a^e of 9 nionihs the full 

 led pigs were much the be^iviest, but at the lime of 

 killing the pigs fed sparingly for Ihe first 10 or 12 

 months weighed, upon an average, fifty pounds 

 each more Ihan the others. Besides this addition- 

 al weight of pork, the three "lean kind" added 

 much more than the otheis to my manure heap. 

 These results would seem very obvious to anyone 

 who has noticed the hal^ils of the animal. In con- 

 sequence of short feedinir, they were much more 

 active and industrious in tiie manufiictuie of com- 

 post, and this activity at the same time caused the 

 muscles lo enlartre and ihe frame to spread, while 

 the very fat pigs became inactive, and, like indolent 

 bipeds, they neither worked Ibr their own benefit 

 nor Ibr that of others. 



For the purposes ofincreasinir my manure heap, 

 my pens are kept constantly supplied with peat or 

 swaiop mud, about three hundred loads of which 

 are annually thrown into my siyes. This, with Ihe, 

 manure frou) n^y horse stable, which is daily 

 thrown i. , and the weeds and coarse herbage 

 which are gathered Horn the firm, give me about 

 500 cart loads of manure in a year. 



On reiTular and systpmatic feeijini? and clean 

 and dry beddintr, the success ofrnisinir aod (atten- 

 ing swme very much depends. A fiilliful leeder, 

 also, who has some .fkiU and taste, and wiihal a 



