374 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



the snout ; and following the law of habit, by which a limb is 

 increased in length and strength in proportion as it is exer- 

 cised, Lamarck, an infidel philosopher, would seem to have had 

 some slight foundation for his theory of the development of 

 creation, according to which man was first a clam, and, after 

 passing through different grades of improvement, emerged at 

 last from the monkey and orang outang into a full-grown 

 specimen of humanity; and the elephant, which was first a 

 mouse, transmigrated through successive generations, and 

 finally assumed the form of a hog, from which, with his tusks 

 and snout lengthened by continually feeding on herbs, and his 

 size increased by favorable climate and luxuriant living, he has 

 now become an elephantine monster ! In a wild state the hog 

 has been known to live thirty years ; but in domesticated exist- 

 ence he is usually killed at two years of age. In referring to 

 history, we find the wild boar was a very common inhabitant 

 of the forest in the British isles previous to the civil wars. 

 From him probably all the different varieties now in those 

 islands have originated. The principal English breeds have 

 been named after the counties in which they have been chiefly 

 raised, as the Berkshire, Essex, Suffolk, <fcc. The Chinese and 

 improved Suffolk are best adapted for table pork ; the Norfolk 

 and some others, among them those which we call natives, are 

 more suited for bacon. 



The improved Suffolk originated in a cross of the Chinese 

 and Berkshire with the old Suffolk — a large-boned, long-eared, 

 coarse hog ; the cross with the Berkshire having hair, and that 

 with the Chinese having comparatively none. The improved 

 Suffolk are often rejected because judged of by the old breed, 

 (as are the improved Devonshire cattle ;) while their good quali- 

 ties are overlooked, or not acknowledged, by persons thus 

 prejudiced. There is perhaps no better breed than the Suffolk 

 for our New England farmers. Animals from this stock are 

 well formed, compact, prolific, and very hardy. They are 

 easily kept in fine condition, and fatten readily wliilc young. 

 Tf they attain less size and weight than other breeds, they also 

 consume less food. It is a question, whether the amount of 

 food required to make five hundred pounds of pork in a large 

 hog would, if fed to two Suffolks, make as much or more in 



