'^m'm mi 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



^ 



PUBLISHED BY JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO. 52 NORTH MARKET STREET, (Agricultural Waeehou8e.)-ALLEN PUTNAM, EDITOR. 



vol.. AIX.] 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, M.ARCH 17, 1841. 



[NO. 37. 



N. E . FARMER 



Knnn llie Farmer's Cabinet. 



BERKSIHUKS NO LONGER BERKSIIIRES. 



Mr Editor — I am an old li.)g-breeder, and liave 

 always siqipo.sed tliat I knew athiny or two — but I 



confess that I nin now all ashore on that subject 



The time was when a good hog was not measured 

 by the number of white feet which ho possessed, 

 or the f[n!Uitily of white hair that he sported in his 

 tail, but by something of much more importance. I 

 find, however, tliat we were all wrong — no Berk- 

 shire can be a Berkshire with less than three while 

 feet and a white top to liis tail — "so says the book, 

 and therefore it is true." 



Now, 1 have observed, through a long life, the 

 truth of an old aphorism, which 1 used to write as 

 a copy, when a boy at school — " what is violent is 

 seldom pernianent".^and the Meiino, the Morns, 

 and now the Berksliire mania, all are proofs of the 

 truth of the old :i'hge ; they have all been too vio- 

 lent to be permanent, and should be held in remem- 

 brance, as a warning against future speculations. 



Well, then, Brrkshires are no longer Berkshires, 

 but ini/«oDC(/ Berkshires ! So they can now be 

 black, red, tawny, white, spotted, and speckled, and 

 yet be (|Uito pure and perfect blood — in short, im- 

 proved Perksldres — leaving the old breed quite out 

 of the question — then I would say that Benjamin 

 Cooper, of Camden, N. J., has about the best hogs 

 in this country, and they deserve the character 

 which [. G. has given them in page .382, vol. iv. of 

 the Cabinet, the perusal of which account induced 

 me to go and view them for mvself. 



It is a pity the game is likely so soon to be 

 brought to a close, for I have half a dozen young 

 friends, who were just ready to dash into the spec- 

 ulation, each prepared with his Bement or Lossin^, 

 and a pedigree as long as my arm, and all of the 

 right color too, to a hair; but )Mr Samuel D. Mar- 

 tin's letter, in the Franklin Farmer, has, or I am 

 much mistaken, blown up the Berko-mania, and will 

 quite spoil the trade. He admits that the gennino 

 Berkshires were red, with black spots — indeed, 

 that is undeniable — but he contends — which is as 

 deniable — that they were a coarse hog, with large 

 ears and curly liair, a. great consumer, but that they 

 Would attain a large size, (now what on earth was 

 there in such a hog desirable to breed from.') and, 

 therefore, he would make it appear, that every good 

 quality of the present improved breed, was obtained 

 from the lOastern or Chinese hog, of which there 

 were two varieties of colors, the white and tlie 

 black. Professor Low, however, contends that the 

 color of the modern Berkshire is still a reddish 

 brown, with dark spots; many of them, he says, 

 are nearly black, manifesting their near approach 

 to the Siamese character, and sometimes they are 

 black, broken with white, but not a word does ho 

 say of their being quite white; although he admits 

 tiiitfrom this intermi.vture it becomes, in many ca. 

 ses, ditficiilt to recognize, in the present race, the 

 characters of the true Berkshire — and yet Mr Mar- 



tin has a white imported boar, of the improved 

 Berkshire breed, although he does not claim (or 

 him that he is an original Berkshire, but tliat he is 

 an improvement upon that breed, by the eastern 

 crosses. But all this while Messrs Lossing and 

 Wait attach great importance to their pigs' coming 

 direct from Berkshire, and of being the onhj pure 

 blond, although they have never imported, by anv 

 chance, any of the original red and bl.'ick color; 

 and they brand all those with contempt that are not 

 black and while, with the given number of white 

 feet and white hairs in the tail. 



But Mr Martin says, although red and black 

 was the original, and has always been the prevail 

 ing color of the real Herkshire hog, yet, thirlij years 

 ago, there were white and black ones amongst 

 them, (he must then mean, I presume, amongst the 

 original breed,) and that he considers it therefon^ 

 ])erfectly idle to say, that in an animal that is white 

 and black, a few hairs of the one or the other color, 

 in this or that place, constitute a genuine or a coun- 

 terfeit — and so say I — but this is robbing the milk 

 of all the cream, for. as I have often seen, much 

 more importance has been attached to their color 

 than to any other qualification. 



So then it appears that every one has been breed- 

 ing his own improved Berkshires! And that, in 

 short, Berkshires are no longer Berkshires! I 

 shall, therefore, no longer expect to see people 

 shelling out their dollars for very inferior pigs, 

 merely because they have been bred by such and 

 such gentlemen, without regard to much besides 

 the color of the feet and tail! And it comes at 

 last to this — a good hog, any more than a good 

 cow, cannot be of a bad color. 



Let it not, however, for a moment be supposed 

 that I wish to detract an iota from the value of the 

 Berkshires — they are most e.vcellent as a cross 

 with our own swine stock, and have done, and will 

 do, infinite good ; but, really, the nonsense which 

 is bandied about in all sorts of ways and all about 

 things of the most trifling importance, is perfectly 

 surfeiting, and reminds one of the old couplet — 



" Strange that such difference there should be, 

 ' Twixl tweedledum and Iweedle dee !" 



JOHN DILLON. 



PORTRAITS OF ANIMALS. 

 To the Editor of ihe Fanner's Cabinel: 



Sir — I wish to call your attention to the por- 

 trait of a Cotswold buck, as drawn from the life 

 and given in the number of the Albany Cultivator 

 for the last month. This animal has been import- 

 ed by that spirited breeder and improver, \V. H. 

 Sotliam, whose perseverance and industry in the 

 cause are above all praise. But, is it really intend- 

 ed we should suppose that the sheep is there faith- 

 fully represented ? Then he is a nondescript, and 

 reminds one of the build of a road-wagon as much 

 as a sheep; for if the hind legs had been brought 

 a little further forward, they would thou have stood 

 under the centre of the carcass, and have rendered 

 the fore legs quite unnecessary ; or, it might have 

 been as easy to add a couple, to support the enor- 



mous rump ! As he now stands, he appears, as 

 some one says, "a creature packed up in two [lar- 

 cels." And yet, Mr Editor, the " portrait" as it is 

 called, is nothing more nor less than what we were 

 led to e.xpect, from the importer's notes of prepara- 

 tion, first from the other side of the Atlantic, say- 

 ing that ho was coming, and, on landing, that he 

 had come, and had brought with him the pride of 

 all England! having, as it would seem, contrived 

 to bribe the English breeders to dispose of their 

 best stock for the consideration of a few extra dol- 

 lars, reserving to themselves their " fair to middlino" 

 only, to breed from hereafter! Now, I must say, 

 I have never found that our English friends were 

 so much like some of ourselves — such penny-wise 

 and pound-foolish folks— as to sell iheir best stock ; 

 and, judging by some that I have seen imported, I 

 am not inclined to believe that they have so far 

 lorgotten themselves as to dispose of their best 

 even to friend Sotham, either for love or monev. 



While reading the importer's account of his mag- 

 nificent purchase, in the late numbers of the Culti- 

 vator, I could not but think that he wrote with a 

 large quill, and was reminded of the boy whose 

 father had always counselled him to "talk laro-e " 

 and who, on being asked what fish he had dmed 

 upon, replied, "a whale." And I have heard of an 

 honest Hibernian, who, on going lo England to 

 work at the hay harvest, and receiving thirtyfive 

 shillings for his labor, hurried back to Ireland, and 

 meeting a friend, on landing, who was just gointr 

 for the same purpose, told him he might just slay 

 where he was, for he had brought away all the mo- 

 ney wMh him ! Now it would really seem as if 

 our Albany friends were determined to keep all 

 the finest and fattest things to themselves, and 

 swallow us and our lean kine at a gulp ! Assured- 

 ly they do talk very large, and make wonderful ani- 

 mals upon paper; but our stock will grow in pro- 

 portions in spite of us, and a very large body will 

 fit itself with legs sufficient to support the weight 

 which they are destined lo carry; nor have we 

 been able to obtain them with a natural piazza at 

 the rump, all ours requiring artificial shelter in 

 stormy weather. But let not our friend Sotham 

 suppose for a moment, that I wish to detract an 

 iota from the praise that is due to him for intro- 

 ducing amongst us improved stock ; he richly de- 

 serves all the credit and profit that he can possibly 

 receive; but if he would draw with a more faithful 

 pencil the delineations of his animals, ami write 

 with a /eeHe smaller pen, he would not be servinn- 

 himself or the cause which he has so m.bly es"- 

 poused, with less efficiency, truth, or fairness. 



But I am bound to do him justice in one very 

 essential particular — he has disenchanted the spell 

 which has been thrown around the profession of 

 hog-breeding in the Eastern States, and worked 

 the very mischief with the magicians themselve.s, 

 with all their tomfoolery about three white hairs 

 and feet! He says, "color, in Berkshires, is not 

 hereditary; they vary in many instances, and I 

 have seen the pure breed of all colors, amongst the 

 best prize herds in England. To discard" good 

 animals for their color only, are quibbles that seem 



