

REARING AND FEEDING OF ANIMALS. 395 



white, short-haired, fine skinned, smaller heads and ears than 

 the Berkshire; but the latter are feathered with inside hair, 

 which is a distinctive mark of both; short, snubby noses; very 

 fine bone, broad and deep in the belly, full in the hind-quar- 

 ters, but light in the bone and offal; the sows are good breeders, 

 and bring litters from eight to twelve. They have the charac- 

 ter of being bad nurses. They feed remarkably quick, grow 

 fast, and produce meat of a most excellent quality. Mr. 

 WESTERN, of Felix Hall, took great pains in the improvement 

 of the race. 



We have, as before observed, a variety of breeds of native 

 growth, or crosses with foreign importation, possessing many 

 very superior traits of excellence. E. PHINNEY, Esq., one of 

 the most intelligent, public spirited, and successful farmers of 

 this country, has on his place in Massachusetts, a variety 

 called the Mackey breed, which have taken several premiums 

 at Brighton and other fairs. This breed is very highly es- 

 teemed throughout New England, and has been introduced 

 into New York by that indefatigable agriculturist CALEB N. 

 BEMENT, Esq., who has been engaged in an experiment by 

 crossing them with the Chinese and the Berkshire. The re- 

 sults have not yet transpired. For Mr. PHINNEY'S method of 

 treatment see Appendix. 



Form. The same external characters indicate, in the hog, a disposition to 

 fatten as in the other live-stock; and there is no other animal which can be 

 made by cultivation to present so great a combination of these characters, or 

 which can be so easily improved in its form, from the facility with which it 

 receives the character of its parents, and from its rapid powers of increase. 

 The chest should be deep and broad, the ribs largely arched, the neck short, 

 and the head and limbs small; the bristles should be soft, approaching to hair, 

 and the skin soft and elastic. 



Rearing and feeding. The sow goes with youngr 112 days. She is fit to 

 receive the male in the first year of her age, and the Nkter is able to propagate 

 his species at the same early period, but he should be at least 12 months old 

 before he is admitted to the female. The female produces from 5 to 10 or more 

 at a birth, and she can easily be made to produce and rear two linens in the 

 year; and she may even rea'r five in two years. She is ready to receive the 

 male soon after the birth of her young; but the time should be chosen which 

 allows her to produce her litter at the most convenient season. Thus, if she is 

 to be made to litter twice in one year, the first should, if possible, be produced 

 about the beginning of April, and the second about the beginning of Septem- 

 ber, so that the last litter may gain full strength before^ the arrival of cold 

 weather. 



When the sow is with young, she should not be wholly confined to a pen, 

 but be suffered to walk at large in a yard or other convenient place, care being 

 taken that, as the time of producing her young draws on, she shall not be 

 crowded with others, lest she be injured by their feet. 



The time when she is about to produce her litter will be known by her car- 

 rying straw in her mouth to make her bed. Before this, however, she should 

 have been separated from her fellows and carefully littered. The straw should 

 be short, and not in too great quantity, lest the pigs, nestling beneath it unper- 

 ceived by the dam, be crushed by her when she lies down. 



While nursing, she should be well fed, and the pigs accustomed to feed from 

 a trough on milk, whey, or any liquid food, mixed with a little meal or bran. 



