THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



161 



PKODUCTlVliNliSS OF PUBIPKINS. 



From the Western Farmer and Gardener. 

 Gentlemen: — In my last pnmplilet, ! ohservei] 

 two mainmoih pumpkins spoken oK I vvisli to 

 iiilorin you of someihing of ihe same kind. I 

 Buw 00 a piece of jjrrountl, about 75 leet scjuare, 

 this (all, IHO pumpkins, ami I saw one of ihem 

 weighed — the weight was 150 lbs., artd I am sure 

 that tiie whole number would have averaged 

 100 lbs. or upwards. They were raised by Jonas 

 Beeson, Esq., on the bank of the Ohio, in Wood 

 county, Virginia. Yours, 



A Subscriber. 



A VISIT TO MR. Allen's piggery. 



From the Albany Cultivator. 



Messrs. Editors— Be'incr at Buffalo a short 

 time since, and having heard much of the celebra- 

 ted Berkshire and China stock of swine, and be- 

 ing an admirer of fine domestic animals withal, 

 I determined to make a visit to Mr. Allen and 

 ascertain whether his stock realized the descrip- 

 tion 1 had often had of them. 



The farm of Mr. A. is charmingly located on 

 the immediate bank of the Niagara river, two miles 

 below Black Kock and five from Buffalo. The 

 ride is a pleasant one. You are scarcely out ol 

 the city on a broad and noble avenue, before you 

 are within Black Rock, which stretches along 

 the river for upwards of a mile, on a broad and 

 level street, with several mills attached to its im- 

 mense water power, created by the great state 

 pier wiiich walls in a portion of the Niagara 

 river, and here forms the liead of the Erie Canal, 

 and supplies it with water for half iia length to- 

 wards Albany. 



One ca'n hardly imagine a pleasanter location 

 in the summer season, than is presented from 

 the house of Mr. A., having a fine view of Lake 

 Erie some five miles distant ; the town of Black 

 Hock and the steeples of Buffalo, with the ascend- 

 ing highlands stretching liir away beyond them — 

 the broad and clear Niagara, here two miles wide, 

 checkered with beautiful grassy islands, and the 

 green cultivated shores of Canada opposite. The 

 canal passes immediately in front of the house 

 between the main road and the river, giving 

 every defcirahle facility of access and Transporta- 

 tion east or west, by canal boats every hour in 

 the day. 



Mr. A. B. Allen was not at home, havincr 

 gone to Ohio to pass Ihe winter ; but I found his 

 brother residing there lor the present, who kindly 

 showed me their extensive establishment, and 

 gave me much valuable information regarding 

 their stock, and other matters appertaining to the 

 domestic and improved animals of our country. 

 The piggery, including a new erection recently 

 enclosed, is now 100 feet long, by about .30 wide 

 and two stories high. It is divided off by a 

 spacious alleyway in its whole length through the 

 centre in two long ranaes of rooms. These are 

 subdivided into separate pens from 8 to 12 feet 

 square, as circumstances require, and fitted up in 

 the most approved style of convenience. In these 

 were the breeding sows, some with young litters 

 of pigs, others two or three together, and some 

 Bingle, as their difierent conditions and circum- 

 VoL. IX.-ll-A 



stances required. In one end was a steaming 

 apparatus, with huge tanks or vats for steaming 

 ihe food, supplied with water liy a large cistern 

 under the builditiir. Overhead were stored quanti- 

 lies of straw for bedding, corn, oats, Indian meal, 

 shorts, &c. ; in a word, all the varieties of 

 tbod with which the swine are li'd. Placed at 

 [iroper distances through the building were glasa 

 windows which pushed back and forward aa 

 voniilation was required, but always admilting an 

 excellent light through the day inio each apart- 

 ment. In the rear of each enclosure was a small 

 door for the passage ol' the animals out into the 

 open air in good weather, and lor exercise, a thing 

 almost daily practised. In short, every conve- 

 nience which thorough and approved breeding 

 required, was here furnished in a cheap and eco- 

 nomical manner. Surround ng the piggery, were 

 three or lour grass fields lor the summer range of 

 the swine, with temporary pens erected lor shelter, 

 and suitable feeding troughs in their proper 

 places. 



As you. will observe that every thin^ for the 

 convenience and due accommodation ol Ihe ani- 

 mals was in apple-pie order, I shall now attempt 

 lo describe what I saw of animated nature vvithin. 

 The first object that struck my eye on entering at 

 my right, was an enormous, yet beautifully pro- 

 portioned Berkshire sow, with eleven young piga 

 at her side, about three months old. This mag- 

 nificent animal (excuse the term, for I can assure 

 you that although applied to a hog, it is to one so 

 elevated by the successful application of a noble 

 science in natural economy, that the coarse mate- 

 rial of the animal is transformed into an almost 

 superior nature from the common groveling brute 

 of the name,) I learned was imported, with three 

 other sows and a boar, (Sultan, the finest and 

 largest animal of the kind I ever saw,) last year, 

 from Berkshire in England, at a great expense. 

 They were all from separate stocks, in no way 

 related, and of incomparable value to Mr. A. in 

 enabling him to avoid [heiii-and-in breeding sys- 

 tem, which much of the finer stock of our country 

 is subjected to, for the want of proper selectiona 

 from foreign stock of the same blood. This in- 

 and-in plan of breedinir, Mr. A. has always 

 avoided, and has spared neither painsnor expense 

 in imporlations and selections fi'om the best stock 

 of this country, to improve and cross with his own, 

 and -make it what it now is beyond a question, the 

 most extensive and superior swine breeding estab- 

 lishment in America, if not in the world ; now 

 consisting of between 30 and 40 of the finest 

 breeding sows, 2 imported boars, and pigs of every 

 intermediate stage and growth. 



But to the detail. This fine sow would weigh 

 as she then stood, near 500 pounds, was in a 

 capital condition and of a perfect model. Fancy 

 could not picture a more beautiful creature of the 

 kind ; she was gentle too, as possible, and quiet- 

 as a lap-doij. These pigs, I learned, were all 

 engaged at ^40 to ^50 the pair in the spring. In 

 an adjoining pen was another fine young imported 

 sow with Spifjs equally good with herself; and 

 all perfect of their kind. Adjoining them also, 

 were the two remaining sows of the last import- 

 ation, now about fifteen months old, and promis- 

 ing in size and appearance, to equal at the 

 maximum, either of the others. Passing along 

 I observed the fine and stately sows purchased 



