472 Transactions of the American Institute. 



for five years lias been near 1,500 pounds per acre, without manure, 

 and, so far, without disease. The absence of high winds in summer, 

 the equable temperature, and the deep, rich soil of our valleys, all 

 point to this locality as a great hop-growing region, whenever . we 

 obtain direct railroad communication with the east, or acquire a dense 

 population of consumers. Nor is this all. We can raise wheat as 

 well as hops, fruit of excellent quality and without stint, and I defy 

 any location on the continent to excel this climate for butter-making. 

 The nights are always cool, the grass green for more than nine months 

 in the year, and roots of all kinds easily and cheaply raised. We have 

 used cans twenty inches high and eight inches in diameter for three 

 years, and like them better each year. We set in a tank filled with 

 water from the well, which, when first drawn, is never above 55° 

 Fahrenheit. When the water in the tank gets above 65°, a few buck- 

 etsf ul of water from the well, added through a spout discharged into 

 the tank at the bottom, and which displaces an equal amount of the 

 surface water, soon restores the proper temperature. This locality 

 will eventually be a famous dairy region. I send you samples of Puget 

 Sound wheat and oats. 



Hon. George Geddes pronounced the wheat very fine, and of the 

 variety known as the Soules, a little darker ; but would be classed as 

 amber wheat. Mr. F. D. Curtis said the oats were very good and 

 well cleaned. 



Improved Cheshire or Yorkshire Pigs. 

 Mr. S". S. Gardiner, Watertown, New York, wrote as follows : 

 So much has been said through the newspaper press in regard to 

 this breed, that I feel it a duty to give the public the information I 

 have never seen published, in regard to the origin of this popular 

 breed of hogs, and to correct a statement made last spring by F. D. 

 Curtis. T. B. Stanley, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, wrote to the 

 American Institute Farmers' Club : " Sometimes I see the hogs bred 

 in Jefferson county, New York, called the Cheshire, and sometimes 

 the Jefferson county breed. I should like to know which is correct, 

 and if there were ever any hogs imported into this country from 

 Cheshire, England." In reply, F. D. Curtis said: " There is a family 

 of hogs in Jefferson county, New York, which has been bred long 

 enough to be called a breed, which was established by crossing the 

 Yorkshire with the native breed, and subsequently with hogs imported 

 from Canada. They are a good breed of white hogs, and are 

 called Cheshire by a number of the breeders of them. This is a very 



