504 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



used it on my cucumbers and Hubbard squash 

 vines this season with the best results. 



— A correspondent of the Western Rural says 

 that a few days ago on the farm of E. Kellogg, in 

 the town of Cuba, Lake Co., 111., a boy while rak- 

 ing hay pulled out of the ground a clover root 

 that measured six feet and four inches in length. 

 The root parted before leaving the ground; how 

 much remained he was unable to state. 



— The consumption of beef in the United States 

 is estimated at 2,000,000 tons per year, while in 

 France it is only 900,000 tons for an equal amount 

 of population Eveiy thing in the meat line that 

 can possibly be utilized for food has been made 

 use of in France, and the most learned savans are 

 continually employed in exploring the field for 

 additional sources of supply. 



— A writer to the Boston Cultivator states that, 

 having moved his barns the past season to some 

 distance from the trough wheie the animals had 

 formerly drank, a considerable stream of water 

 during a freshet flowed between the barn and the 

 old watering place. On turning the cattle out the 

 first morning after the fres-het, several of the larger 

 ones passed over the stream to drink, though the 

 water was so deep that they had to swim. 



— The Western Rural says that spring wheat is 

 very extensively grown in Illinois, Minnesota and 

 Wisconsin. The favorite varieties are the Canada 

 Club and the Canada Fife ; while the Rio Grande, 

 China, Australian, and several new varieties intro- 

 duced by the Agricultural Department, are highly 

 spoken of. In Michigan the Diel, Treadwell and 

 Tappahannock are highly esteemed varieties of 

 winter wheat. 



—Mr. E. W. Potter, of Greenfield, Mass., it is 

 said, has a grade Short-horn cow, ten years old and 

 weighing 14(J0 pounds, which came in about April 

 1, and after being turned on pasture, about May 

 20, gave 68J pounds of milk in one day, and July 

 12, was giving about 30 quarts of milk. The 

 family used one quart of milk daily. From the 

 rest there was made in one week 18 pounds, 9 

 ounces of butter. 



— Dr. E. M. Hale, of Chicago, read an essay be- 

 fore the Cook County Homeopathic Society, on the 

 poisonous cfi'ects of the potato bng on the human 

 system. He thinks the poison in the Colorado po- 

 tato bug is among the mo>t virulent in the animal 

 kingdom ; that it is vo'atile or that it may he vola- 

 tilized by the action of heat, which is not the case 

 with the poison of cantharides or any other animal 

 poison. 



—An English writer says that soft eggs are gen- 

 erally caused by ovtr-feeding the hens, and the 

 remedy is then self-evident. It may, however, 

 occur from want of lime, which must of course be 

 supplied, the best form being calcined and pounded 

 oyster-shells. Occasionaliy it is occasioned by 

 fright, fiom being driven about, bat in that case 

 will right itself in a day or two. If perfect eggs 



are habitually dropped on the ground, the propri- 

 etor should see whether the nests do not need 

 purifying. 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 



CHESTER COUNTY HOGS. 



Much is said and written about thoroughbred 

 Chester County hogs. Is there such a Ineed of 

 hogs ? F. F. FisK. 



Mast Yard, N. H., Aug. 21, 1869. 



Eemakks. — The answer to this question might 

 peihaps depend somewhat on the definition given 

 to that loosely used word "thoroughbred." Wor- 

 cester defines thoroughbred as aa animal "pro- 

 duced by parents of pure blood on both sides." 

 In defining what is intended by the expression "a 

 thoroughbred horse," Stonehenge says, "the 

 horse which is entirely bred from one source is 

 pure from any mixture with any other, and may 

 be a pure Suffolk Punch, or a pure Clj desdale or 

 a pure thoroughbred horse. But all the^e terms 

 are comparative, since there is no suih animal as 

 a perfectly pure bred horse of any breed. * * * 

 Even the best and purest thorougbreds are stained 

 with some slight cross with the old English or 

 Spanish horse; and, therefore, it is only by com- 

 parison that the word pure is applicaiile to them 

 or any others." This may help us to an answer 

 to our correspondent's inquiry, — there is such a 

 breed as the comparatively thorough-bred Chester 

 County hogs ! But from the statements that we 

 have seen by those who have received animals 

 from breeders in Chester County who have adver- 

 tised them for sale, it would seem that the word 

 comparative would be as convenient in describing 

 the appearance as the blood of the breed. 



We have seen a statement that this breed was 

 originated some forty years ago by a cross be- 

 tween the best native stock of the county of Ches- 

 ter, Pa., and a boar imported from Bedfordshire, 

 England, by a Capt. Jeffries. In an article on the 

 "Large Breeds of Swine," by Sanford Howard, 

 published in the Country Gentleman, in 1866, it is 

 said, "The Chester County, or Chester White hogs 

 have received a large share of attention in the ag- 

 ricultural papers of late years. They have been 

 kept in Chester county, and other districts of 

 Pennsylvania, for many years. Those which 

 have been latterly sent over the country under the 

 name above given, vary much more in their points 

 than those I saw twenty years ago. The old stock 

 may be described as follows : Head large ; the nose 

 or snout thick, but not long for the size of the an- 

 imal ; the ears large, thick and flapping; the body 

 rather long, and tolerably round ; the back gener- 

 ally hollowing, fiequently with a considerable 

 depression immediately behind the shoulders; the 

 legs generally large in proportion to the size of 

 the body, and in fat animals frequently giving way 

 so much as to bring the dew-claws fully to the 

 ground ; the skin rather thick, and covered with 

 long, wavy bristles. Many of the hogs now called 



