vol.. xt. yo. ii*. 



AND H R T J C U L T (Hi A L REGISTER 



171 



^ORCr.^TKK \tiRirULTUR.\L SOCIKTV. ''^'''y '" P"'*"'' •''' '''" t)'1«-''i''t'rB. 'I'ho nccuaed, 

 I bpinjj nrroKtiMl bv llio tn.irslml oT Ilia ilmlrict, vptv 



KKrOUT or TUB JUOOKS OW 9WI.Ni:. |, " • ' 



' oroiijjht to the burs oftbeir renpective pens. 1 hey 

 Allhc aonual term of llie Supreme Judiciil gppesre.l without coun-el, un.i th.-rclorc the .If- 

 OUrt ot Swine, within and for the County of W or- , ,,,„^„ „;• i„,„„,^y „„, n„t u^g^j. j'r„,„ ,,,„ ^^g^,_ 

 *ler, begun, hold, and ended on the thirteenth „,„„y j, ^^^^^ ^,,^^ j,,p ,,„„^ ^f ,^,^ j^.,,^^,^, „„,l, 

 ,y of October, the " Judges' took their seat.s at the „„,_ ^,. Worce.-ter. who occupied the .tutu.n on the 



^ual convenient place, at an inconveniently late ^^.,,^,,„ ^.^^,, ty of ll.o pen., enlercd into convcr- 



•• Tlieir Honors," Hon. Jamea.\llo.i,olO,.k- „aion with the boar of Mr Lyeander C. Clark, of 

 jn. Hon. Rufus DuUock. of RoyaUton. Hon. Ben 

 mill FUtabrook. of .Vthol. and Hon. Aniory Hoi 

 in. of Bolton, appo.ircd and were duly (jualified 

 le Hon. Charles Sibley, of Barrc, and Hon. Jedc- j y^^ IJndwin' 



ih .Marcy, of SouUibndge, being absent, it be- ' "^^bi^pj tl)«'kmd.hnarteVpreccpi8'or hi8"e7ceilen'l 

 mc necessary to supply, as far as possible, the „,^,jg^^ ^.,,^ bclonRB to the peaceful and benevo- 

 cancies on the bench. The Hon. Samuel W ood, 

 Gratton, and the Hon. C. C. P. Ilastiuga, of 

 ndon, having been senators of the Slate, were 

 joioled to be judges of swia 



Lye 



the same town, in the next adjoinins apartnieol on 

 the east. Uuring the discourse, eome obscrvatioiia 

 fell (roiii Mr Clark's lioj wliicli hurt llie fecliiij;s of 

 The lullcr aiiimul had nut fullv 



ent society of Friends. KxnsperDtcd by insult. 



unmindful of the non-resisting principles under 



which he had been educated, and sensible thai his 



, honor had been injured, he was prevoJ<ed to send a 



The whole court— •• all honorabU uien — were , ^1,^,,^^^^ ,h^j,yp,, ^,,g ^^j,. This was instantly 



pressed with a»c and admiration by the view of |^j^j,p,gj ,i,,,^,y ags,„„ed, as men do. that it was 



proper to show which was ri^ht, by showing which 

 was strongest and most skillful in the adminititra- 



vast and venerable assemblage" of swin 



collection uf quadrupeds which graced the 



could not, it is true, be comp.ired with the 



Ititudes of another race, which have in former 



s thronged the metropolis of the heart of the 



mmonwealth. Confined within narrow limits 



restrained frrin forming platoons eight deep, 



i; could co: eAhibittuch splendid spectacles as 



lion of force and arms. Their motives will be 

 rendered clear by borrowing a part of the words of 

 un eminent statesman in a recent address to his 

 constituenu : 



' Their minds, dominated by this sophism, and 



long drawn processons which have sometimes having adopted as the rule of their own action, the 

 lamed the streets; but they stood along the lines theory of denegation of reason, and self stiiUifica- 

 pens, stretching as far as the eye could reach 1 1'"" "'hich it implies, it is not strange that they 



ough the crowd of citizens, in fatness, fulness, 

 mness and strength, like an array without ban- 

 's. 



Various estimates were formed of the quajitit; 



pork, as observed at different stations ; no di- 



fsity of opinion disputed that the quality was ex- 



lent, and that a more magnificent displny had 



er before made the husbandman's festiv.il splcn- 



One hundred and seventyseven swine of dis- 



uished merit, are enumerated in the census of 



population of the pens, on the books of the Re- 



rding Secretary. 



The congregation of the great, and fat, and good. 



assumed the same rule as applicable" to their con- 

 dition. 



Coffee and pistols were not at hand. Swill and 

 tusks for two were provided. The parties' iinnie- 

 dialely removed the obstructions to an interview, 

 and met on the area between the pens, at the dis- 

 tance of twelve paces. Fierce looks were exchang- 

 ed without effect They then rushed togetlierj 

 and severe wounds were given and received. The 

 seconds, discovering that this, unlike other duels, 

 was like to become a deadly encounter, interposed 

 without the common delay of a second, and parted 

 the combatants with great exertion. Each of the 



waited on during the day by several officers : opponents was understood to say that he would 

 the militia, editors, representatives, ancient and have the satisfaction of being torn to pieces for the 



orable senstors, the supreme executive council, | sake of proving that he was aggrieved. Under 



Governor of the Commonwealth, the Secretary ! these circumstances, it was ordered that the cnmi- 

 8tote of the United Stales, and the people of I „ai8 g|,auld be remanded to their pens during the 



county generally in tlieir own persons, and | jay . that they should afterwards be delivered to 



By distinguished strangers. 

 Sefore the session of the whole court, an unhap- 

 idifficulty tf)ok place. The relation of such a 

 graceful transciciion would bo suppressed if it 

 lid possibly be passed over to oblivion ; but fidel- 

 to truth requires Ocal it should be noticed. Il 

 ame the painful duty of the resident Justice 

 an information presented of the greatest 

 demeanor which liad ever dishonored the com- 

 nity of swine. Two boars, it was alleged, had 

 n engaged in a dutl. The first blood-shed dur- 

 aa hundred years, from the silly and cruel 

 ctice of firivate war, had soiled the verdure of 

 lurf between ihe area of the pens with its red 

 n. It seemed incredible thai sensible lings 

 Id be so foolish as to engage in an affair of hon- 



and almost impossible that a decent pig should 

 orgcl the respecl due to liimself, the obligations 

 lis famii>, his own reputation, and to the char- 



r of his race as to commit either suicide or mur- 



Thc complaint demanded immediate investi- 



ion, and justice set out promptly and without 



the custody of their owners; and, being kept in 

 close confinement, without bail, at convenient 

 lime should be duly executed, and made to keep 

 the peace by being divided into suitable pieces. 



The first case presented for adjudication was 

 that of a horse, exhibited by Mr William Ciishman, 

 of New Braintree — beautiful in form, of graceful 

 proportions, six years old, and H! hands high. He 

 was born on the banks of the beautiful Ohio, where 

 any one might be glad to live or die. He was 

 worthy to bound over the almost boundless prairies 

 of the West ; or course with the .Arab steed over 

 the plains of the East ; or, better than either, to 

 be the sire of descendants to draw the carts and 

 work the plows on the hill-sides of New England. 

 As it could not be shown that a horse was a hog, 

 and 08 no preiuium could be bestowed for other 

 animals, the case was considered to be out of tlie 

 jurisdiction; and tlic only opinion expressed by 

 the judges was that they had no opinion. 



Having finished what did not belong to iheni, 

 the Judges proceeded to the discharge of their 



other laborioii* diitirs. Tho |;rcat rxcellonco of 

 the animals exiiihiicd, rendered it dillicult to do- 

 ciilo where the claims for preiniiimii and praiso 

 were so nicely balanced that all deserved the first 

 and received the lant. In bestowing Iho marks uf 

 the Society's approbation in money, regard wa« 

 had to the cost of krcping, as well as to the breed, 

 form and size of llic torliinate coinpetilori', with tho 

 desire lo encourage ihut block which would yield 

 the (>reitest profit to the farmer, at Ihe least ex- 

 punse Ifcirorshave occurred in tli>! decisions, 

 they have nol hippcned from want of a hinccre de- 

 sire to givo each his due, but fiuin Ihe brief space 

 allowed for hurried examination and comparison, or 

 from missppreliciision of merits. 



One hundred and forty of the best pigs " not less 

 than four in number," wliicli hove ever been wean- 

 ed in Worcester County, first claimed ihe atli'n- 

 lion of the Judges. By printed invitations, each 

 of iheni hud been requested to write his autobiogra- 

 phy, and several have furnished materials to illus- 

 trate his own beginning and expected end, and to 

 explain his experirnce of past living and his expec- 

 tations of future dying. These tesiimonials of 

 good conduct, showing that each was or would be 

 honest, faithful and capable, in life or death, would 

 require a quadruple " Boston Notion" for Ihe slight- 

 est recapitulation of worth. Not being able to 

 turn over such vast extent of paper, it must be 

 brierty staled that a premium of six dollars was 

 awarded to Mr Samuel Perry, of Worcester, for 

 the best pigs, one quarter Bedfor/1 blood and three 

 quarters native breed. The second preniium of 

 three dollars was adjudged to be due to Mr Wa- 

 ters Putnam, of Sutton, for his family of nine pro- 

 mising animals, dividing the blood of Berkshire 

 and Leicester in equal moieties. 



Beyond all these cases, appeared twenty beauti- 

 ful pigs of Mr Harvey Dodge, of Sutton, all Berk- 

 shire; six of Mr Taft Foster, of Worcester, half 

 Berkshire and half Leicester; nine of Messrs. Si- 

 meon it P, B, Stockwell, of Sutton, of ilie Leices- 

 ter and New England Race, and one of IMr Baxter 

 Ellis, of Worcester, a striped pig, which wore re- 

 garded with admiration. 



The premium of eight dollars for iho best breed- • 

 ing sow not less than two years old, having had 

 not less tli;,n two lillers of pigs, w as awarded to Mr 

 Harvey Dodge, of Su Km. The mother, of full 

 Berkshire blood, had furnished evidence of her /i<e- 

 rary accomplishments hy nursing one family of 14 

 pigs, born August I, 1640 — another brood of It 

 children more, which come into the world January- 

 1, 1841 ; and a third smaller collection of 12 in- 

 fants, Avho commenced their residence in the coun- 

 ty, August G, 1841. Within twelve months and, 

 six days, slic had niade donation's of forty individu— ^ 

 als to tlie population. Some of these families have 

 emigrated, and are now settled in Pensacola and. 

 other cities of the .So'ilh, or in towns of the far 

 West. 



The first premium of five dollars for tlie beet 

 breeding sow not lep^ than two years old, which 

 should have had at least one litter of pigs, wM i 

 awarded to Mr 'Samuel Knox, of Grafton, for hi s 

 matron, whose fine una full figure exhibited th e 

 btauties of the min^jled .Mackey and Berkshire 

 breeds. 



The v'-nerated grandsire of Mr Knox's fire slock, 

 bore the name o( Major, an honored rank in former 

 time, but, unhappily, no w ii o more distingui.-hed in 

 the military force of Ihf • Co mmonwealth, lh»n colo- 

 nels in the staff or ker'jels of corn on the stalk, tho 



