306 



JN JL. W il, IN U ij A IN U r A 1\ iVl JL, IV , 



MARCH :<l. l?*!. 



WHAT! BERKSHIRES AGAIN? 

 Yes, reader, Berksliires again. It is a fid sub- 

 ject. Snme lover (if " good porli" who Nails from 

 "Down East," iias sent us not only a wtll funned 

 coiniimnication in " black unii white," (genuine 

 Berl^.^hire colors,) bnl he has rnclosed and franked 

 the veritable white hairs from the tip of a genuine 

 Berksliire's tail, (and, by the way, these white hairs 

 are not exactly white, but are in color like the 

 light streaks in the bird's-eye maplo table on which 

 we are writing, e.xcepting two of them, which are 

 blackj and thus has he furnished us an unerring 

 standard by whicii we may test the right of every 

 specimen of swineship that comes within our ken, 

 to take the name of genuine improved Berksldre. — 

 It is an invaluable present. We heartily thank 

 the donor; his favor will help us to many a hearty 

 shake of the sides, as we go from stye to stye to 

 determine which of the solar rays are reflected by 

 llio natural ornament of the posterior excrescence 

 of every hogship and pigship in our whereabouts. 

 With the greatest good will and glee imaginable 

 will we devote ourselfto that healing of our dis- 

 eased correspondents, which a sight aC these real 

 Simon Purcs will at once efTuct. 



Should this " Lover of Justice and Good Pork," 

 (an iicquaintance of ours in the winters which wo 

 spent at the capitol of Maine, if we guess rigl.t,) 

 find it convenient to favor us with communications 

 from time to time, he will not merely confer a 

 favor upon us personally, but will help us to make 

 this paper deserve tlie high co[n|ilimcnt which he 

 has paid to it in his closing sentence. 



Berkshires liave attained such notoriety, that 

 their comparative e,\cellencies and defects should 

 be fairly and fully stated to the public. We wil- 

 lingly admit articles cither for or against them, 

 which purport to contiiin instructive facts or obser- 

 vations. We find much amusement in the con- 

 flicts of opinion, and are disposed to indulge our 

 correspondents to the greatest extent, which justice 

 to other topics will allow Ed. 



Down East, March Wlh, 1841. 



Ali.en Putnam, Esq. — Sir — Having been born 

 in Boston, I cannot divest myself of some regard 

 jor that city and its inhabitants, and even for those 

 of the whole State of Massachusetts. It is there- 

 fore with alarm that I perceive such strong symp- 

 toms of rabidness exhibited by some of your cor- 

 respondents in the columns of the New Enflaiid 

 Farmer. To read the last number of your paper, 

 one would almost suppose the salvation of the world 

 depended upon the stock, and more particularly the 

 pigs, of Massachusetts being equal to those of New 

 York, — that the good people of your State were 

 afflicted with monomania, and his Satanic Majesty 

 had appeared to tliein in the shape of a Berkshire 

 hog. It may be, Mr Editor, caused by the color ; 

 for some animals, you know, have a natural antipa- 

 thy to particular rays — the cock turkey, for instance, 

 cannot abide the sight of red, and evinces it by his 

 great gobbling ; and possibly those gentlemen are 

 such thorough-going anli abolitionists, that they 

 cannot endure black, when exhibited to their eyes 

 even in the hair of a hog. lam rather inclined to 

 this last opinion, as the rage of their fever has evi- 

 dently been much greater since the cut given to 

 the abolitionists in the address of the President. 



The white hairs in the tails of Mr Lossing's 

 pigs, are the principal spectres that haunt their 

 minds or flit before their visions, and as we farmers 

 place great faith in old saws or proverbs, and there 



is a well known one, that " a hair from the same 

 dog will cure," I have taken the liberty to procure 

 for and enclose to you some of the real Simon Pure 

 hairs from the t:ul of a full. blood, to be by you ad- 

 ministered to those unfortunate persons, trusting 

 that your sense of humanity will prevent your de- 

 laying even for a moment (after their reception,) 

 so important a presr.ription. 



The uncharitable might think that those good 

 citizens of Alassachusetts were influfncod a little — 

 a very little — by fear they should not be able to 

 make quite so much out of their .Mackay and their 

 Berkshire pigs, if the public were led to doubt the 

 purity of their blood, and believe that a better breed 

 could be found in Albany. 



.As I am a Massachusetts man by birth and a 

 Maine farmer by adoption, I cannot be suspected 

 of any prejudice in favor of New York. Having 

 Massachusetts Berkshire and Mackay pigs, as well 

 as some from MrLossing, (with the white feet and 

 white hairs in the tail,) I have had, and still have, 

 a good opportunity to judge of the value of the 

 different breeds, from their aptitude to fat and their 

 shape ; and in justice to Mr Lossing and frinn re- 

 gard to the interests of the farmers generally, (with- 

 out caring a pin for those of a few breeders of pigs 

 for side,) I must confess that, although the Mas.sa- 

 chusetts Berkshire, Mackay and Bedford breeds of 

 hogs are fine, the Lossing Berkshire is evidently a 

 very different and much superior animal. 'J'lie 

 points I should point out in which they excel are, 

 a rounder barrel, a rounder, fuller ham and shoul- 

 der, broader back, thinner head, less cheek, and 

 smaller feet, legs, tail and ears — I say nothing 

 about color, for whether blacks or Essex greys is 

 to my mind of no importance, as long as it is, as 

 in the case of the Berkshires, confined to the hair, 

 and has not given any taint that cannot be scraped 

 off. As to the white hairs, a few more or less may 

 be of consequence on the head or beard of a bache- 

 lor, but I think of not the slightest on the body or 

 tail of a hog. 



That you may not suppose I have been imposed 

 upon in the pigs I have mentioned as Massachu- 

 setts Berkshire and Mackay, I would remark that 

 they are from the stock of Mr Phinney, of Lexing- 

 ton, a gentleman whose character is too well known 

 to admit of such a suspicion. 



In short, sir, no person who has ever examined 

 one of Mr Lossing's pigs, can believe that those 

 who have berated them in your paper ever saw 

 one of the pure blood. The Berkshire they speak 

 of, must be of a very different kind, and if any of 

 the pure blood " did not cut up well," the owner 

 slaughtered them when not half fatted, deceived 

 into the belief that they were fit for the knife by 

 their very superior shape. 



Not being a breeder for sale, but only having a 

 very few for my own use, my object is to obtain 

 the most profitable hog — one that will give the 

 greatest weight of clear pork, lard and ham, from 

 the least quantity of food ; this I am confident I 

 now have in the Lossing Berkshire ; but if any of 

 your subscribers or correspondents have a kind su- 

 perior to the Lossing, not the Massachusetts Berk- 

 shire, I should be very desirous to obtain a pair, 

 and should consider him or them as having con- 

 ferred an incalculable benefit upon their country 

 by its introduction. 



I cannot close this letter without returning you 

 my thanks for the goodly proportion of valuable 

 matter contained in your paper, and expressing iny 

 opinion that it is now fully equal to what it was in 



its most palmy days, under the editorahip of Mr 

 Fessenden. 



A Lover of Justice and Good Pork. 



For Ihe New England Farmer. 



WHEAT INSECTS. 



(Continued.') 

 Since my former communication was written, I 

 have found tome interesting " Observation.^ con- 

 cerning the Fly-Weevil that destroys wheat, by 

 Cnl. Landon Carter, of Sabine Hall, Virginia," in 

 the first volume of the " Transactions of the Ameri- 

 can Philosophical Society at Philadelphin " The 

 desiription, given by Col. Carter, of this ijsect, and 

 of its habits, corresponds very nearly to that of 

 the Angoumois moth, or (Ecophora rj-retUda* ; but 

 Ins history is deficient in some poniculars, which 

 are necessary to prove the identity of the Ameri- 

 can and European insects. 



Of the insecis that are injurious to wheat in the 

 ear, or while it is in a grov/ing state, the best 

 known is the wheat-midfre, or wheat-gnat (Cecido- 

 myia tritiri,) of Europe, an account of which has 

 been given by Mr Kirby, in the " Transactions of 

 the Linnean Society of London." This midge or 

 gnat resembles a mosquito in form, hut is exceed- 

 ingly minute, being only about oi.e tenth of an 

 incii long. Its body is orange-colored ; its two 

 wings are transparent like glass, and are fringed 

 with short hairs around the edges ; and the long 

 nntennJE, or horns, consist of little bead-like joints. 

 This insect appears in swarms in the fields, when 

 the wlieat is in blossom ; and, by means of the 

 long retractile piercer at the end of its body, it 

 thrusts its eggs within the chaflfy scales of the 

 flower. The young insects hatched from these 

 eggs are little orange-colored maggots, tapering 

 towards the head, and blunt at the hinder extremity, 

 with the rings of the body somewhat bulging at 

 the sides. They have no feet, but move in a wrig- 

 gling manner, and by sudden jerks of the body, like 

 some other maggots. Mr Kirby does not seem to 

 have known with certainty in what way these mag- 

 gots injure the wheat, and suggests that perhaps 

 by eating the pollen they prevent the impregnation 

 of the grain. It would seem, however, from recent 

 observations, that somehow they abstract the nour- 

 ishment from the grain, so that the latter does not 

 fill ; but whether by sucking it immediately from 

 the prain, or from the base of the germ, (the latter 

 seems most probable.) is not yet satisfactorily as- 

 certained. In consequence of their depredations 

 tlie grain becomes shriveled and abortive, and io 

 some seasons a twentieth part of the crop is there- 

 by lost. By tlie first of August they come to their 

 full size, descend to the ground, and go into the 

 earth to the depth of half an inch; here they pro- 

 bably riunain inactive through the following winter, 

 and turn to flies or gnats in the spring, when the 

 wheat is about to blossom. 



An insect much like the foregoing, and known 

 in its maggot state by the name of "the grain 

 worm," has been observed for some time past in 

 the northern and eastern parts the United States, 

 and in Canada, and its ravages have gradually ex- 

 tended in various directions from year to year. 

 The maggots (wliich I have seen) agree exactly 

 with the description given of those of the wheat- 

 fly of Eun pe, and they attack and destroy the 

 grain precisely in the same way. The fly has not 

 yet fallen under my notice. Several essays on 



*See New Englaud Farmer, March 24, 1341, page 3UQ. 



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