502 



APPENDIX. 



for the more firmly the tiles are kept in their places by the solid sides of the 

 drain, the less likely they are to be moved. (ELKINGTON, STEPHENS, JOHNSTONE, 

 DONALDSON, YOUNG, MAI. HALL.) 



PAGE 395. 



THE MACKAY HOG. This breed was introduced into the United States by 

 Capt. JOHN MACKAY, of Boston, and those offered by him have repeatedly re- 

 ceived premiums from the Agricultural Society of Massachusetts. This 

 variety lias for a long while been most widely scattered and generally esteem- 

 ed, in "the north-eastern portion 01 New England. An extract of a letter ad- 

 dressed to the Hon. HENRY L. ELLSWORTH by ELLAS PHINNEY, Esq., of Massa- 

 chusetts, is as follows: "To your inquiry as to what breed of hogs I prefer, I 

 will state, a cross of the Berkshire with the Mackay, which are my principal 

 breeds. With the history of the Berkshire pig you are no doubt acquainted. 

 The Mackay pigs were imported into this country from England about fifteen 

 years since, by Capt. MACKAY, of Boston, from whom they derive their name, 

 and till within a few years were decidedly the best breed in New England, 

 and perhaps in America. But in consequence of breeding 'in-and-in, 1 as it is 

 termed, they had greatly degenerated, had become weak and feeble in consti- 

 tution, small in size, ill shaped, and in many instances deformed. When first 

 imported, Capt. MACKAY, on his farm at Boston, not unfrequently brought 

 them up to 600 Ibs. at the age of eighteen months. In all the essential points, 

 they greatly exceeded the Berkshire, particularly in lightness of offal, greater 

 weight of the more valuable parts, firmness and delicacy of limb, thinness of 

 skin, roundness of body, &c., but withal a hog of feeble constitution. With a 

 view of restoring some of the good qualities of this breed and uniting them 

 with the healthy constitution of others, I tried various crosses without much 

 success. One of those which did pretty well, was with the Moco, so called, 

 which I obtained from the Genesee county, in the state of New York. But 

 decidedly the most fortunate cross is with the Berkshire, which I obtained 

 from my friend Mr. BEMENT, of Albany, about three years since. The pro- 

 duce of this cross is a breed which far exceeds those of any other, possessing 

 all the good and useful qualities of the Mackay, united to the vigour, size, and 

 health, without the coarseness of the Berkshire. The best pigs, however, that 

 I have ever raised, were by putting a full-blooded Berkshire boar to a sow, 

 which was a cross of the Mackay with the Moco the produce being half 

 Berkshire, a quarter Mackay, and a quarter Moco. 



PAGE 399. 



Mr. PHINNEY, in an able letter published in the New England Farmer, re- 

 marks "On a large farm, where much green herbage is produced, and where 

 the value of the manure is taken into account, I consider the pigs killed at the 

 age of fifteen or sixteen months as giving the greatest profit. When it is in- 

 tended to kill them at this age, they may be kept on more ordinary and cheaper 

 food for the first ten or twelve months, or till within four or five months of 

 the time of killing. The manure they make more than pays the extra expense 

 incurred in keeping them the longer time; but spring pigs which are to be 

 killed the ensuing winter and spring must be kept upon the best of food from 

 the time they are taken from the sow until they are slaughtered." 



Mr. PHTNNEY, in corresponding with the Hon. H. L. ELLSWORTH, of Wash- 

 ington, remarks as follows: 



"I have been for a number of years engaged in the rearing and fattening of 

 swine, and my establishment is viewed as one of considerable magnitude, when 

 compared with others in this part of the country, but when compared with 

 those in the western states, it must be very diminutive. A late writer in the 

 Yankee Farmer, which you may have noticed, has greatly exaggerated the 

 profits of my piggery. 'The average price of corn in this market is $1 per 



