NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



343 



" secured." No edifice which ingeniiity could invent 

 was proof against their vaulting ambition ; no rear 

 wall impervious to their geological researches. They 

 had the legs of a rciudcei-, the saout of a hippopota- 

 mus, the ears of a fox-hound, the head of a hedge- 

 hog, and the hide of a rhinoceros, combined with the 

 appetite of a boa constrictor, and the fattening pro- 

 pensities of a hydraulion tiro engine. They were 

 the grave of a great deal of meal, those two ! 



You may be sure that no great amount of cogita- 

 tion was required to determine me to become an 

 agricuhural Columbus, and to discover new worlds 

 of pigs, or, at least, worlds of new pigs. 



Now, this is a point at which the prudent farmer 

 ought to ponder well, and to make that .selection 

 among the different improved breeds which is adapt- 

 ed to his wants. For our region of country, we require 

 a pork hog. Farther south, they need a bacon hog ; 

 and there are varieties adapted to these requirements. 

 The Berkshires, pure or crossed, are generally al- 

 lowed, I believe, to be the fittest for bacon. But 

 they do not fill the eye or the pork barrel of the 

 New Englandcr. The best pork hog, all things con- 

 sidered, is the Suffolk, or a cross of the Suffolk and 

 Middlesex. The greater part of the pigs on Prince 

 Albert's farm, near Windsor, are Suffolk. The late 

 William IV. patronized this breed. But they need 

 no royal patron. They tell their own story, and the 

 meal account against the pork barrel is their eulogy. 

 They are well-formed, compact, with short legs, 

 small heads, fat cheeks, quiet, and easy fatteners. 

 The color is generally white, though occasionally a 

 few black spots occur. They are hardy in constitu- 

 tion, and of a quiet disposition. These are emphat- 

 ically the farmer's hogs, and better repay care and 

 expenditure than any other breed which has come 

 under my notice. 



In my search for these animals, I fortunately met 

 with the advertisement of Mr. W. Stickney, of Bos- 

 ton, in your paper ; and many weeks had not elapsed 

 before I had a splendid boar from his herd, grunting 

 for his lost loves and Ws deserted piglings in Ver- 

 mont. That veteran friend of the farmer and of all 

 the animate creation, John I. Skinner, now editor of 

 The Plough, Loom, and Anvil, was honoring me with 

 a visit soon after the arrival of his porkship, and he 

 pronounced him one of the finest animals he had 

 ever seen. Now, there may be better judges of what 

 constitutes a good pig than Mr. Skinner, but the 

 world has not learned their names. 



To test the value of this pig, as a feeder, I insti- 

 tuted an experiment with four hogs, two of them 

 Berkshires, weighing about twelve stone, (of four- 

 teen pounds,) one excellent pig of nondescript breed, 

 called Our Own Hog, weighing about fourteen stone. 

 The boar was a trifie below three hundred and fifty 

 pounds. These pigs had daily the same allowance 

 for two months. The Berkshires became gradually 

 more and more lanterny ; the nondescript gained 

 apace ; but the boar was in " killmg" order. 



Mr. Stickney is the only one, within my knowl- 

 edge, who is seriously engaged in improving the too 

 much neglected race, by large and judicious impor- 

 tations, and systematic breeding. I found at his 

 farm, in Vermont, about one hundred head, (and 

 ninety-eight tails, for two were decaudiznted ;) and 

 a finer lot of pigs I never again expect to see con- 

 gregated. 



The man deserves well of his country who ena- 

 bles it to fatten two hogs where one starved before ; 

 and I most sincerely trust that Stickney will be re- 

 warded, not only in dollars and cents for his outlay, 

 but in reputation for his public spirit. 



To my fellow-farmers of New England, and espe- 

 cially to our Rhode Island farmers, I can most con- 

 scientiously, and I do most earnestly, recommend to 

 see this choice lot of swine, and to make a selection 



therefrom, for the benefit of themselves and their 

 neighborhood. 



And now, my clear Mr. Cole, I fear you have had 

 hog enough to make you bristle up in rebellion 

 against the dose. But you are a public servant man, 

 and should be as uncomplaining as the president. It 

 did occur to me, at the commencement of this ])aper, 

 to attempt to convey to your readers a portion of the 

 pleasure which I enjoyed on the trip to Vermont ; 

 and to have added a word about other choice stock, 

 and divers vegetable productions which I found at 

 Mr. Stickney's extensive domain, and some of which 

 had an introduction to my teeth on the spot. But 

 there is such a thing as tiring people to death ; and 

 I leave the subject, though unwillingly, perhaps to 

 return to it at a future day. 



Very truly yours, 



^Y. S. KING. 

 Woodland Farm, 

 Near Providence, R. I., Sept. 1849. 



For the Neio Englmul Farmer. 

 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE, NO. I. 



Me. Editoii : Agriculture may be considered the 

 most ancient of all the arts, and is certainly the most 

 important. The earth was, by divine appointment, 

 to furnish sustenance for man, and after the fall he 

 was doomed to procure it by the " sweat of his brow ; " 

 hence husbandry, or the practical part of agriculture, 

 was the first and most important occupation of Adam 

 and his descendants. We learn, from sacred history, 

 that the two sons of Adam, Cain and Abel, were 

 employed in this manner ; the former, a tiller of the 

 soil, and the latter a keeper of sheep. Agriculture 

 has the merit of reclaiming mankind from the hope- 

 less state of a wandering life, by drawing them to- 

 gether in communities, and imj)osing on them the 

 necessity of a fixed habitation. We are left wholly 

 to conjecture as to the implements with which the 

 work of tillage was carried on in the early days of 

 the world, or what degree of art was employed in 

 producing the fruits of the earth ; but it is supposed 

 that the antediluvians were in possession of many 

 arts and inventions that were in process of time lost, 

 or but imperfectly retained by the several tribes or 

 nations that were scattered abroad after the con- 

 fusion of tongues. Noah and his posterity retained 

 the art of agriculture ; for we learn that immediately 

 after the flood, he commenced the cultivation of the 

 vine. 



For many centuries after the flood, before man- 

 kind had become verj^ numerous, and while every 

 tribe could range over a large extent of country, their 

 property consisted in their flocks and herds, and 

 their chief employment in the care of them. This 

 continues to be the condition of some of the nations 

 in Northern Asia to the present day, and agriculture 

 is but little attended to. The line of Ham, who took 

 possession of Egypt, applied themselves to the culti- 

 vation of the soil with so much industry, ingenuity, 

 and success, that Egypt was enabled to supply its 

 neighbors with corn during a period of famine, and 

 they were also the first people who applied them- 

 selves successfully to the cultivation of the earth. 

 But they were invited to it by the fertility of their 

 soil, occasioned by the annual overflowing of the 

 Nile ; they were not backward in assisting the Hb- 

 erality of nature ; they employed themselves in 

 draining, irrigation, and other methods for the im- 

 provement of their lands ; and by these means they 

 were enabled to derive all the benefits which their 

 benignant river was capable of affording them. 

 These works were carried on with energy by Sesos- 

 tris, nearly two thousand years before the Christian 

 era. The Egyptians were so sensible of the blessings 



