42 



S WINB. 



SWINE. 



The Committee on swine have given to their charge 

 their undivided close attention, and have not once fal- 

 tered in the performance oi their duties. To this they be- 

 lieve themselves indebted to the wise conclusion at which 

 they arrived -tt the outset, not to cluse their eyes upon 

 the inevitable fact that all sages have uttered, and 

 poets £ung in praise or burlesque of the subject of 

 your Committee's investigation, has failed to change 

 the settled and inate convictions of civilized men 

 that in the hog there are material elements and 

 qualities which commend him to the careful attention 

 of practical farmers. The annual exhibition which 

 brings with it so much to gladden and exhilerate the 

 mind, has for its purpose not alone the development of 

 a transient mirth or the interchange of gladsome 

 pleasantries, important as these may be^ but the higher 

 purpose — also, your Committee believe, of securing to 

 the best uses of society an universal knowle jge of the 

 ways and means best adapted to the improvement and 

 development of the varied material interests that find 

 a representation at our annual shows. Amid these 

 varied departments the swine may well command the 

 attention of those w^ho would add material value to the 

 great staples of the country. And your Committee take 

 pleasure in saying that in no previous year has there 

 been more satisfactory evidence that a just estimation 

 is had among farmers of the importance attaching to 

 this department of stock. The mysteries connected 

 with the phenomena of animal life are such as afford 

 ample occasion not only for the experiment of the 



