56 HAMPSHIEE AGEICULXXJEAL SOCIETY. 



Perhaps the only philosophical system there is in the world,. which 

 has no gammon in it, is tlie Baconian, and strange to say, the im- 

 provement of bacon is almost the only subject to which that system 

 has not been applied. 



Mechanical skill has annihilated space ; labor saving implements 

 have enabled us to cultivate our fields with half the former time and 

 expense; the study and judicious application of the laws of breeding, 

 have placed our Horses and Oxen and Sheep, in point of size, 

 strength, beauty and usefulness, far in advance of the old standard. 

 But amid all this improvement, the unfortunate Hog is left in the 

 back-ground. Having always manifested a knack of taking care of 

 himself, he is suffered to go on in his own way, and is expected of 

 his own accord, to get fat about Thanksgiving, and then quietly to 

 yield himself up a martyr pro hono publico i. e. as a bone for the 

 jnbblic to pick. Whatever visionary and absurd ideas men may have 

 entertained, with regard to the perfectibility of the species, the swine 

 appears never to have troubled his head with any notions of the sort. 

 His enemies have indeed accused him of a proneness to radicalism as 

 evinced by his great fondness for rooting, but however far he may 

 have run his speculations into the ground, in this respect, he is cer- 

 tainly not to be charged with any socialistic schemes of reform and 

 swinish progress. 



We have been led to make these remarks not so nmch as the re- 

 sult of our observation in this immediate vicinity, for it is conceded 

 that in New England, the introduction of such important foreign 

 varieties as the Berkshire and Suffolk breeds, have effected a great 

 improvement in the native stock, and our farmers are annually turn- 

 ing off porkers so sleek and unwieldy, so suggestive of the glories of 

 roast pork, the juicy charms of ham, and the luxury of sausages, as 

 to make a Jew water at the mouth, and almost wish himself a Chris- 

 tian. But leave New England, study the character and habits of the 

 swine of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the Southern States, and what 

 a contrast is presented to the view. In those portions of our country, 

 the hog seems to have entirely lost his character as an honest, well- 

 meaning, contented quadruped. Like Ishmael, his hand is against 

 every man and every man's hand is against him. Thrown from his 

 tender years, upon the cold charities of the world, he becomes prema- 

 turely vicious, and the grinding hand of adversity seems to have 

 sharpened his wits and his snout at the same time. Com2ielled to 

 forage for a livelihood, along the highways, and in the gutters, the 

 mere pressure of necessity makes him an arrant, poaching vagabond. 

 Long, low and sharp built, with a rakish cut of his jib, and great for 

 speed, he is prima facie a suspicious looking craft, and when cap- 

 tured in any of his depredations, he is sure to forfeit all the privil- 

 eges of the common law, and to be condemned as a pirate, without 

 benefit of clergy. And after all he is a good fellow at heart, the viC' 



