VOl4. XVII. N<» 35 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER, 



277 



nine pig's, rarely ten at a birtii ; which, if decent- 

 y fed, they raise with abundant ease. Indeed, I 

 mow of no faull with the pure Improved China 

 Hog ■■ and still I consider them with all their good 

 ]ualities, in their purity, not exactly the animal for 

 he pork making farmer. Were I to direct him 

 irhat to do to raise his breed of lioo-s to the great- 

 est pitch of excellence, I would say — no matter 

 tthat his breed may now be, if not of the approved 

 ;arii.'ties — in the Northern States, where his stock 

 IS t'r.l in (leii", with ground or cooked food — "Cross 

 your stock wit'i China, and keep crossing it, nn 

 matter how high, until tliey fail, in size or vigor, 

 and then go to the Berkshire or something else ; 

 but still let the main ingredient of the animal be 

 China blood." The continual tendency of hogs, 

 IS of most other animals is, without great care, to 

 deteriorate ; to grow coarse and wasty ; and I 

 know of no cross which so readily brings them 

 back into snug and correct proportions 4s the China. 



I have had various crosses of these upon other 

 breeds of swine, and I have never known an in- 

 stance where they were not improved by the China 

 blood. The size of the crossed China is large ; 

 frequently double that of the pure blood, varying 

 from three to four hundred pounds at eighteen 

 months old, and always excellent. Even in the 

 first cross upon the wild woods hog, the produce te 

 astonishingly altered, and the second makes an ad- 

 mirable animal, with great constitution and hardi- 

 hood, accompanied by the quiet disposition and fat- 

 tening propensities of the parent China. More 

 need not be said in praise of the China hog. Since 

 [ first obtained them, by judicious selections they 

 have been continually improving in their appear- 

 ance and good qualities, and I fearlessly challenge 

 ;he country for tiner specimens of Chinese swine 

 tlian can be shown from my former stock, now at 

 Mr A.'s farm. 



If I have placed the China pig Jirst in estimation 

 it is because I think him better fitted than any other 

 to improve, as a first cross, the condition of our 

 sountry swine generally ; but for some purposes 

 and in the opinion of many of our farmers, partic- 

 ularly the large grazing and pork feeders of the 

 west, the 



ly equalled in most other largo breeds ; extraordi- 

 nary length of body ; breadth of carcass ; light 

 otfal ; large, well shaped ham ; and in fine an ex- 

 cellent pork hog. They are a darker spotted than 

 the China, being in most cases nearly black, but 

 without bristles, or with very slight ones. The 

 sows are prolific breeders, having from eight to fif- 

 teen pigs at a birth. They have the usually rav- 

 enous disposition and character of the common hog, 

 sometimes devouring not only their own young, but 

 whati^ver other feeble and inoffensive small animals 

 iiriy come within their reach. They are good nur- 

 ses, and a sucking Berkshire pig can rarely be ex- 

 celled in beauty by any creature of the kind. They 

 are strong, and coarse feeders ; exceedingly hardy ; 

 good travellers (a desirable quality for the western 

 country, where the farmer drives his fat hogs to 

 market instead of butchering them at home ;) are 

 remarkably well calculated to follow fattening cat- 

 tle through the corn fields, and to thrive on roots 

 and coarse grains. They have obtained extensive 

 celebrity on account of tlieir great size, and other 

 good qualities, and are, beyond question, with those 

 who desire eitraordinar:/ large, as well as fine ani- 

 mals, the best pure blooded swine in the country. 

 They have an increasing popularity ; are sold in 

 many instances at enormous prices, and will proba- 

 bly be multiplied, as they ought to be, throughout 

 the United States. 



Yet good as are these animals, they can be much 

 improved by a cross of the China. They are an- 

 tipodes in character and disposition ; but each pos- 

 sessing excellencies of a peculiar and desirable 

 kind, and when mingled with a cross of the Berk- 

 shire boar and China sow, the produce is the most 

 perfect that the swine family, numerous as it is, 

 can boast. I have had them, and have seen them 

 elsewhere extensively crossed, and always with en- 

 tire success. To the China is added, size, vigor, 

 hardihood, and length of carcass ; and to the Berk- 

 shire, docility, quietude of habit and disposition, 

 delicacy of bone, limb and muscle, and a remarka- 



delicacy and firmness of bone, the good qualities 

 of the China. They are longer bodied, nearly 

 double their size, yet smaller considerably than the 

 Berkshire, and will weigh .300 to 500 lbs at eigh- 

 months old. Tliey fatten equally as well when six 

 or nine months old as the China, are lighter colored, 

 being usually light spotted, the white predominat- 

 ing. They have the tranquil plea-sant habits of 

 the Chinese, without the uneasy, predatory propen- 

 sities of the Berkshires, and are in all particulars 

 just what the farmer of our Northern and Middle 

 States would desire fur a good stock and pork hog. 

 In fine, I do not know that 1 can better conclude 

 this long story, than by saying, that in small and 

 delicate breeds the China is the most perfect ; in 

 the large and grosser sorts, the Berkshire is decid- 

 edly preferable; but, for a good, honest, quiet, every 

 day hog, the Tusrarora is, after all, equal, if not 

 superior to either. At any rate if you possess 

 nothing but the common breed, try one or all of 

 these, and you cannot but be essentially benefited. 

 A notice of other varieties must be left for a future 

 paper. Ulmus. 



FINANCES OF MAINE. 

 It would seem from ihe subjoined statement of 

 the finances of .Maine, that this grown-up daughter 

 of Massachusetts is even much more of a spend- 

 thrifttbatiher good old mother. It appears that a 

 considerable amount of her past expenditures has 

 arisen from her liberal bounty on the growing of 

 wheat ; and that the calculations of future expen- 

 ditures are predicated upon a large bounty to be 

 paid on the production of corn and wheat. This 

 after all is a most judicious expenditure and in the 

 result highly profitable to the State. If Maine 

 will dig fi-om her own soil nearly a million dollars 

 worth of bread sLutf for her inhabitants, by the pay- 

 ment of a hundred thousand dollars bounty, with- 

 out which bounty not half of this amount would 

 have been produced, the balance is altogether in 



favor of the State ; to say nothing of its moral 

 ble propensity to fatten— in fine, the best hog inLLeffects in the stimulus given to wholesome industry 



BERKSHIRE HOG 



possesses properties of far greater attraction. In 

 the description of this animal, I shall claim for him 

 BO refinement of character, or particular placidity 

 of temper ; for, so far as I have been acquainted, 

 he is as much of a hog as any other variety within 

 my knowledge. These have been so often and so 

 well described and figured in the agricultural pa- 

 pers by my friend Bement, of Albany, who has a 

 large herd of them, that my account will be a short 

 one. Their main properties are, larger size, weigh- 

 ing from three to five hundred pounds at eighteen 

 months and two years old ; and at a much earlier 

 age I should not think they would so profitably fat- 

 ten ; great vigor, constitution and muscular action ; 

 but withal, an aptitude and quickness to fatten rare- 



the world ! I never have yet witnessed such beau- 

 tiful specimens of the swine family, as those of 

 the Berkshire and China cross. When once made 

 it may be followed up on either side, according to 

 the fancy of the breeder ; but let the cross be 

 made either way, it cannot be amiss. I would 

 therefores say to the farmer, if you would have the 

 finest of hogs and the best quality of pork, pro- 

 cure both the China and the Berkshire, and you 

 can never be at fault in possessing a perfect breed. 

 There is still another variety of swine which ex- 

 ists in this neighborhood, and which I deem too 

 valuable to omit a passing notice of, while discuss- 

 ing this important mntter. Their origin is partly 

 owing to accident, and partly to my own love of 

 innovating, as they were first produced upon my 

 own farm, and have since been so successfully bred 

 and substantiated as to claim the merit of a dis- 

 tinct variety. They originated from a cross with 

 a most valuable large white English breed, and the 

 improved China. They were bred several years on 

 my own farm, where some of them now remain, 

 but they are principally kept as breeding stock, to- 

 gether with the China and Berkshire varieties, by 

 Mr A. B. Allen. He has given them the appro- 

 priate name of the 



TUSfARORAS, 



and by a careful and judicious system of selections 

 and breeding, he has brought them to great perfec- 

 tion. They combine in all particulars, except in 



the encouragement to agricultural enterprise ; and 

 especially in the proud consciousness of self-de- 

 pendence, and independence, which necessarily fol- 

 lows this development of the immense resources of 

 the soil of that rising Commonwealth. 



The amount paid from the Treasury of Maine 

 during the last year, in bounties on Wheat, raised 

 within the State, was $77,998 89. The amount 

 which will be required to pay the bounty on Wheat 

 and Corn tlie ensuing year, is estimated to be 125,- 

 000, or 150,000 dollars. The whole expenditures 

 for the past year amounted to $448,199, of which 

 $62,600 were on account of the public debt. Of 

 the receipts ,§348,795 were from loans, and |48,146 

 from the Bank tax, which is appropriated to the 

 school fund. The present amount of the funded 

 debt of (he State is .$584,259. 



The receipts of the Treasury for 1839 are esti- 

 mated by the Treasurer, to amount to $134,723, 

 and the ordinary expenses of the government for 

 the year, $560,842. 



MAXIMS. 



1. He is no husbandman who does any work in 

 the day time that can be done in the night, except 

 in stormy weather. 



2. He is worse who does on work days what he 

 might do on holidays : and 



3. He is worst of all who, in a clear sky, works 

 within doors, rather than in the field. 



