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THE NEW GENESEE FARMER, 



OL. 'J. 



NEW GENESEE FARMER. 



liKKKHIIIREf^. 



Firmcradifferwitli regard lo llic valuable qualities 

 cf tliis breed of lioge. \S'itlioul asserting, as some 

 have done, that they are positively the lest breed in 

 existence, one thing is quite certain, that they far 

 excel most of the native varieties raised in tins coun- 

 try. Tiieir rapid increase and disscminjilion for a 

 few years past ha.i been such, that they may readily 

 be obtained with comparatively tritling expense. 

 "We hope that all who regard them with suspicion, 

 will examine thoroughly their merits before reject- 

 ing them. * 



One of the strongest objections is their smallncss 

 ^ size. It is true they arc not equal in this respect 

 to some others. But the fullowing instances will 

 show that tiiey may attain a respectable magnitude 

 ut least, and if fanners would cease buying inferior 

 animals and cullings of litters, because they arc 

 ehcapest, this objection would not, we believe, have 

 much ground for validity. A recent importation by 

 A. B. Allen, of Duffalo, contains a boar and sow, the 

 former weighing 330 lbs. and the latter a few pounds 

 le^s. They 'were fed on nothing but grass for 

 moriths before weighing. One 18 months old, was 

 sold in the Albany market in 1839, which weighed 

 when dressed 633 pounds, and sold for about Jjg56. 

 J. Lossmg, of Albany, stales that he has one import- 

 ed male, that at fifteen months old, measured six 

 feet fire inches from the end of the snout to the rool 

 of the tail, and five feet six inches in girth ; that of 

 fifteen slaughtered by the Shakers of Watervliet in 

 1839, consisting wholly of what are called runts and 

 the cullings of litters, from fifteen to seventeen 

 months old, the average weight was 356 lbs; that 

 one killed at Shaker village at Lebanon, at two and 

 alialfyea:s old, weighed 800 lbs.; and tlut ha him- 

 Bell killed one at sixteen months weighing over 400 

 lbs. Tlie chairman of the committee on swine for 

 Tom])kins county, in his report, says he rcc-:nlly 

 saw pigs in Rliode Island, a cro.«s between the Berk- 

 shire and Bytield breed, (the latter & smaller breed 

 than t.'ie Berkshire,) that weighed 300 lbs. each, at 

 a little lei's than nine months old. J. R. Caldwell, 

 of New Wir. dsor, fatted a pair of Berkshire barrows, 

 and killed them at a little more than a year and a 

 half oid, when they weighed 1,020 lbs. They were 

 fcd on gra^s alone "iuring the tivo summers, and 

 given other ClcJ only a few months before ihey were 

 butchered. Such i.istauc'JS might be greatly multi- 

 plied. 'I hey show that, by proper management at 

 least, a large size may be attained. 



Bui size is by no means the .'nos' important consid- 

 eration. If a Berk.shire at 200 t.'itf "P a» well, and 

 affords valuable parts in as great a proportionate 

 quantity as another hog at 500, who n'ould hesitate 

 between Ihcm ? Many, in their great fargcrnese 

 for size, are sacrificing quality. The largi' bony 

 breed will indeed fill the barrel the soonest, — ivith 

 heads and shanks,— but, as somebody has jnjtiy i/l" 

 served, it is of far more importance to fdl the con- 

 sumer. Accurate experiments are greatly needed to 

 exhibit the relative qualities in this particular, of the 

 Berkshire and other breeds ; the best we have seen, 

 arc the following, taken from the report of the com- 

 mittee before mentioned. The first is a sow of 

 ••common breed," two and a half years old, and 

 weighed when dressed 335 lbs. The second is a half 

 Jloorf Berkshire sow, 18 months old, and weighed 

 204 lbs. The first had raised one litter of |)igs, the 



Istt-ow. 2d Sow. Barrow. 



Lard 2G lbs IG lbs ... 31lbs. 



Horns 3'4 31 r/2 



Tender loin... 51 3^ 5 



I'nt 63 C3 i) 



Met6Pork....96 103 176 



Prime " 2g.J 16 26 



Sijarcrib 20 12 IG 



Head, Id 16 21 



235 204 336 



Farmers arc usually extremely particular to ob 

 tain the full market price for the r grain — the loss 

 often cents on a dollar by bad marketing would be 



ry one acquainted wit.h them have observed. A 

 jfrtrikinginslanccof this quality, is given by Wra, P. 

 Curd, of Kentucky, of a lull bred boar, which at 

 eleven months was castrated in consequence of an 

 injury rendering liim useless — he weighed at that 

 time 122 lbs. •'Alter being fed 64 days, he was 

 .weighed, and lifted the beam at 410 fus., showing 

 thi astonishing gain of four and a half poimjs a 

 (lay. He is now fed solely on grass, and weiglia 

 550 lbs. at the age of two years." 

 I In consequence of the well attested excellence of 

 ilhis breed of hogs, many attempts will doubtless be 

 made to impose on the fanning community; cau. 



insufTerable. But whv is it, that they are not as !''"'"*"" ^''"'^''"'-^ ''<^ '"■"^^^^y '" P"":"""? a"™*''. 



as well as in deciding on qualities which may be- 

 long only to the genuine breed, and not to spurious 

 ones. 



careful in relation to the market at home, the mar 

 kct of their own making, which is to tell whether 

 they get the same return lor twenty bushels of corn 

 as auotlier man with an improved Berkshire market 

 gets for ten ? A near neighbor lately butchered a 

 few pigs, several months old, a part of half blood 

 Berkshire, and the rest full blood ; the latter were 

 two months younger, and received similar feeding in 

 every respect, but averaged, on killing, full weight 

 with the hnlf bloods. The half bloods were a cross 

 with a large and excellent native variety. It is the 

 quantity of fiesh and fat made, (and little ofl'al,^ for 

 the small quantity of food given, which pre-emi- 

 nently distinguishes the Berkshire breed, which eve 



i Farmers who are in possession of Berkshircs, 

 ^would do the community a great favor, as well as 

 ;themsclves, b} instituting experiments, by accurale- 

 \lij weighing and measuring, showing the quantity of 

 food they consume, their increase in weight, and the 

 relative proportion of the different parts yielded in 

 cutting up ; and if these were accompanied viih ex- 

 periments of a similar character on the common and 

 other breeds, they would be of still more value. — 

 The labor of such experiments would bo very 

 trifling. • 



COIi. SAWYERS' BEUKSHIRES. 



According lo promise, we give ihe portraits of iwo more Berkshire swine, property of Col. Amos S.4W- 

 YER. of this city. 



The above is a beautiful sow, 2 years old, weighing 300 lbs. She is not fat, but broader and heavier than 

 represented in the cut. She is now wiih pig by young Prince Regent, (figure in our lost.) and will litier next 

 month. (Col. S. expects to have a few pigs to spore in the Spring, but most of them are already engaged.) 



This pig is one yeor old, and weighs about 275 lbs: is from the nbovc sow, by a full blood imported boor 

 8olJ to Baltimore for $200. 



Bushes, not Bushels. 



An error occurred in our last paper, on page 2, col 

 3, which moterielly altcis the sense, and makes our 

 venerable assistant nppear somewhat ludieious, which 

 we very much regret He did not soy that he planted 

 some dozen or fifteen kishcls of currents in n n row ( I ) 

 but that he planted that number of /rushes in o row 



Berkshire two litters. The third example is a halt 1 The error woe noticed and marked by oui printer and 

 blood Berkshire barrow, eiglilcen months old, fatten, proofreader, but overlooked by the compositor. He 

 vi ill the ordinary way. promiscB to keep his sperji on herraflor. 



Bees aitd Hone}'. 



Samuel, MiRRior, of Hudson, N. Y., inforira 

 us thai ho hfis very good sncetss with his bees, mttn- 

 ngcd US follows: — The hives are |iloced under a shed; 

 stand from one to three feet from the ground, and have 

 the lx)ttom entirely open, so thnt it any worms ore 

 produced, tbey foil to the ground, ond cannot return. 

 A hole, "2 inches square, is mode in the top of each 

 bive, over winch a box, 9 inches square, is placed in 

 the spring. In the loll these boxes ore removed, and 

 found to contain about 20 pounds each of the finest 

 honey. 



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