THE GENESEE FARMER. 



1V5 



ment. Hence, rich soils may, and do give large crops 

 in a season cliaracterized by a scarcity of rain, which 

 prove fatal to all crops growing, or attempting to 

 grow, on poor lauds. These facts are adduced to 

 show the importance of ceasing to impoverish good 

 soils, and of trying to enrich poor ones. The neglect 

 of the latter soon bring them into a condition that 

 forbids any quantity of rain, however advantageously 

 distributed, to give full crop^. 



Manures as well as soils absorl) moisture from the 

 atmosphere very unequally. In the Edinburgh 

 (^uarterlr/ Journal of Agriculture, Cutiibert \\. 

 Johnson gi\es the following as the results of his ex- 

 periments: 



" One thousand parts of hoi-se-dung dried at a tem- 

 perature of lUO degrees, absorbed, by exposure for 

 three hours to air saturated with moisture, at 62 

 degrees, 14.5 parts ; 1,000 parts of cow-duug, under 

 the same circumstances, absorbed 130 parts ; 1,000 

 parts of hog-dung absorbed 120 parts ; l,()00*parts 

 of sheep-dung absorbed 81 parts ; 1,000 parts of 

 pigeon's-dung absorbed 50 parts ; 1,000 paits of a 

 rich soil worth two guineas per acre [rent] absorbed 

 15 parts." 



Subsoil plowing has done mucli to improve the 

 hygroscopic power of soils, and to bring up the min- 

 iral food of plants from the earth l^elow. Deep and 

 thorough tillage, however, does more by increasing 

 the aliment of crops availal)le to the cultivator than 

 by a1:).sorbing water from the atmosphere ; and while 

 lime is known to be attractive of moisture, and there- 

 by increase the hygroscopic capacity of soils, as stated 

 by Sir Humphrey D/U-y, yet we suspect that this 

 mineral benefits growing plants still more by its chem- 

 ical agencies, and nutritive properties. However it 

 may operate to augment fertility, certain we are that 

 its use for agricultural purposes is largely ou the in- 

 crease iu this country. 



THE HOG. 



Allowinr the hogs kept in the United States to 

 be worth an average of only three dollars a head and 

 their aggregate value is one hundred million dollars. 

 This is a large amount of money to be invested in 

 one species of quadrupeds; and especially in a race 

 of animals so much neglected as the hog, As a peo- 

 ple, Americans are remarkably fond of swine's flesh; 

 but we cannot say that they delight in the wise and 

 economical improvement of the race from which this 

 kind of meat is obtained. Scientific breeders who 

 have investigated the subject, find the varieties and 

 sub-varieties of the domesticated hog more numerous 

 than those of the human family. The English Rural 

 Cyclopedia describes a distinct breed, like the Berk- 

 shire, Suffolk, Woburn, Dishley, Hamjishire, Essex, 

 &c., for nearly every county in the kingdom. The 

 existence of some twenty or thirty different breeds of 

 hogs, with perfectly developed peculiarities in each, in 

 so small a country, proves two things: First, the per- 

 fect susceptibility of domesticated swine to assume 

 extreme variations in anatomical structure, as to the 

 size and shape of its bones, small or large abdomen 

 and chest, small and short or large and long legs and 

 ears, and a disposition to fatten or otherwise, as well 

 ae an aptitude to come early to maturity, or to Uve 



on like the elephant, and never attain to anything 

 more than a worthless mass of bones, gristle, lungs 

 and intestines. Second, it shows that, iu past ages, 

 the rural districts of England have had the least pos- 

 sil.ile intercourse with each other ; for the same inter- 

 comnnmication between the fanners of different coun- 

 ties that exists in this country would prevent the 

 formation of twenty distinct breeds of hogs or sheep^ 

 within two or three hundred miles of each other, in 

 the same State. One may travel from Maine to Cal- 

 ifornia, through the United States, and not find so 

 marked a difference in the language of the people as 

 is met with among the peasantry of adjoining coun- 

 ties in Great Britain. Devon cattle, South Down 

 sheep and Suffolk pigs, are historical monuments of 

 great significance. Had half the care been bestowed 

 on the improvement of the laboring classes of Eng- 

 land which her horses, dogs, sheep, and swine have 

 received, Britons might boast of the universal educa- 

 tion that prevails on their densely peopled Island. 



It is a curio as fact, that nearly all of the native 

 hogs of western and southern Europe have been ad- 

 vantageously crossed with the Chinese or Siamese 

 hog, imported within the last two hundred years. It 

 is the quiet blood of the long domesticated swine of 

 the Pkst, now common in Siam, China, AustraUa, and 

 the Cape of Good Hope, that has improved the hogs 

 of England, France, Italy, Central Europe, and the 

 United States. In the twelfth century, wild boars 

 were hunted in the immediate vicinity of London; 

 and the vigorous blood of those powerful animals 

 prevails in some parts of the Island with slight if any 

 deterioration. The wild boar of Europe is a most fe- 

 rocious beast, and some of the race when half do- 

 mesticated, attained a prodigious size. The largest 

 family of swine now known in England are doubtless 

 improved descendants of these lords of ancient Bri- 

 ton, where men and hogs subsisted mainly on acorns 

 and other products of the forest. Wilson says that 

 "the Rudgwick hog often weighs seventy or seventy- 

 two stones when two years old." A stone is sixteen 

 pounds; so that the mammoth Rudgwick hog (the 

 largest in Briton) weighs from eleven to twelve hun- 

 dred pounds. Our author does not give the Suffolk 

 breed a high character; although his account is as 

 favorable as we could write from what we have seen 

 of this last importation of English pets. He says: — 

 " The Suffolk hog is a small and somewhat dehcate an- 

 imal; and attains an average weight of from 16 to 19 

 stones. Its hair is short and very bristly; its fore-- 

 head is broad; its back is narrow; its belly is pendent; 

 its legs are high; and its general form is more slug- 

 gish than that of the Norfolk hog. It seems to possess 

 a large inter-mixture of the white Chinese breed, and 

 has been for a considerable period in somewhat high 

 estimation; yet it eats a comparatively vast qvantitu 

 of food, and is by no means a kindly or economical 

 feeder." (See Rural Cyclopedia, volume 2, page 664, 

 article Hog.) 



One should select a breed of hogs with reference 

 to the abundance of grain and other food he may 

 have for their consumption; and also with reference 

 to the kind of meat he wishes to produce. Market 

 hogs designed for packing as pickled pork, or for naxh- 

 ing bacon, need to be of good siz'j,, having length, 

 depth, and breadth of cai-cass. For this purj)ose, 



