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to the great wonder of those -who, not aware of the reasons which 

 influence the farmer, unjustly accuse him of as much capi-ice and 

 mutahiHty in the matter of hogs as a fashionable woman manifests 

 in the matter of dress. 



Your Committee could go on at a tedious and interminable 

 length, and state many facts in relation to the qualities of various 

 favorite breeds, and proffer wise counsel about the proper mode of 

 feeding these animals, point out the vast difference between the 

 value of food when raw and when cooked, estimate precisely how 

 many pounds of pork, under proper management, can be made 

 from a bushel of corn or a barrel of corn-meal, and descant learn- 

 edly on the subject of slaughtering, cutting up, salting down, or 

 converting the hams and middlings of a hog into bacon, but we 

 forbear, fearing that we should receive no thanks for our pains ; 

 and indeed, each intelligent farmer should look into the subject for 

 himself, and form his own opinions in regard to the best and most 

 profitable manner of raising his own pork, and encouraging the 

 laudable propensity of the flesh to desert the cheap regions of the 

 body of the hog, and agglomerate on those parts which are wortli 

 from a shilling to twenty cents a pound. We shall therefore con- 

 tent ourselves with throwing out a few hints relating to the proper 

 treatment of hogs, Avith a view to improve the condition and in- 

 crease the comfort of that animal during his brief life, and at the 

 same time put money into the pockets of his proprietor. 



All hogs should be kept comfortably warm and dry during the 

 inclement seasons of the year. If they have little or no pjrotec- 

 tion from the cold Avinds of winter, the sleet and the snow,- except 

 by huddling themselves together in heaps, and in spite of every 

 ingenious device they can practice, often shiver and suffer amid 

 the severities of the season, it is in vain to expect them to thrive 

 even on an abundance of the best food that man can supply. 



On the other hand, if they are exposed during the heats of 

 summer, to the scorching and blistering rays of the sun, without 

 any shady retreat, they will become unsightly in appearance, their 

 food Avill cease to afiord them nourishment, and they will often 

 become afflicted with disease. 



It is a mistake to suppose that hogs can thrive while breathing 

 the dark and pestilential atmosphere of a close and uncleanly 

 stye. They require a well-ventilated apartment, with open barred 

 doors and windows that will ensure a liberal supply of fresh air, 

 which is actually necessary in order to maintain their vigor, give 

 them the full advantage of their food, and furnish full scope for 

 their rapid growth and the free development of their merits. 



It is another gross mistake into which a large portion of man- 

 kind have fallen to suppose that a hog is naturally fond of filth 

 and uncleanness. This is a libel on the whole race. The wild 



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