2 



\THE ILLINOIS F^HjMEH. 



household — that the head is weak aud the 

 hands unwilling. 



More aboot the flog, and its History. 



Jb the Editor of the lUimig Farmer: 



The article by Mr. C. N. Bement, in 

 the November number of the Farmer. 

 in praise principally of the Suffolk hog, 

 is in the main just, when that hog is 

 kept and fed by a particular class of per- 

 sons, where they are large or small far- 

 mers, living in thickly settled and highly 

 cultivated parts of the country, who add 

 to their occupations, that of market gar- 

 dens or fruit raisers, and liave quanti- 

 ties of refuse fruits and vegetables; 

 where there is an abundance of offal 

 and slop as with butchers and distillers ; 

 ■where swill can be collected with little 

 expense; for the keepers of hotels and 

 large boarding houses; in a dairy neigh- 

 borhood or country; in those situations, 

 the breed of swine that puts on the 

 greatest amount of fat and flesh and 

 makes the most weight in the least time, 

 is the most profitable. 



But then, is not the Berkshire of three- 

 fourths or seven-eighths blood, quite 

 as desirable under the same circum- 

 stances? 



And here a word in explanation of 

 the term " Berkshire." There are two 

 breeds of hogs native to England, both 

 ■^hite — one known as the old English 

 hog, and the other as the Berkshire or 

 Hampshire. Now we have not time to 

 make the explanation, but will only say, 

 that by " Berkshire" we mean the pure 

 black India hog, and none other. 



The Suffolk, and nearly all other 

 kind of thin-haired, white-skinned, meat- 

 breeds are subject to a scrofulous, salt- 

 rheumy kind of disease, technically 

 known as the "desquamation" of, or 

 scaling off of the skin. This trouble is 

 greatly increased where the Suffolks are 

 exposed to the sun and allowed the lux- 

 ury of optional bathing in the sloughs 

 and in mud and Avater generally. Noth- 

 ing of this kind interferes with the 

 health of the Berkshire, and his skin is 

 as smooth and supple— summer and win- 

 ter — whether allowed the luxury of wal- 

 lowing or not, as that of a darkey in dog 

 days. Again, the Suffolks are shy breed- 

 ers, frequently refusing to assume the 

 duties of maternity until twelve or eigh- 

 teen months old, bringing few pigs and 

 often proving, neither an affectionate nor 

 nourishing mother. The Berkshire, es- 

 pecially the half breed, is ready for 

 breeding, frequently at four months old, 

 even if as fat as a seal, is an affection- 

 ate mother, a good milker, and brings 

 into the world usually, as many pigs as 

 she has provision for. 



The Suffolk originated in China, and 

 has been modified by crosses with the 

 small boned, white English breeds. The 

 Berkshire, the Essex and the Neapolitan 



and other kindred breeds, all character- 

 ized by little or no hair, black or ash 

 colored skins, fine bone and great apti- 

 tude to fatten, were undoubtedly brought 

 from the South Sea Islands. They were 

 introduced into England seventy-five or 

 a hundred years ago, by Cook or his 

 cotemperary discoverers. Their nara- 

 tives describe a breed of hogs, as indi- 

 genous to these Islands, which are cor- 

 rect descriptions of the best Berkshire 

 and Essexs of the present day. 



A comparison of the circumstances 

 under which the China or Suffolk and 

 the South Sea Island or Berkshire has 

 reached the perfection it attained in the 

 several parts of the world of which it 

 may be said to be a native, will perhaps, 

 throw some light on the peculiarities of 

 the two breeds. China is more densly 

 populated than any other part of the 

 world. Population so presses on the 

 means of subsistence, that it is only in 

 the most fruitful years, that multitudes 

 do not perish of starvation. The hog 

 and duck, and in the more mountainous 

 portions, the hood-tailed sheep furnish 

 the principal animal food. The use of 

 milk, butter and cheese is unknown. — 

 The Chinese devour almost everything 

 that grows on the earth, or in it, or in 

 the sea. Their main characteristic is 

 that of a foul- feeding race; consequent- 

 ly the food of the pig in such a country, 

 must be confined to the very few things 

 the human natives do not eat. There 

 are few or no fences, therefore the pig 

 does not run at large, except in town. 

 The cultivation of the earth is very well 

 understood; a state of things produced 

 by the swarming population, the ready 

 demand, the active competition, and 

 ever So many years of experience. The 

 same skill and experience has, no doubt, 

 been applied to the breeding of the pig, 

 and their success is seen in the original 

 China hog, which is a mountain of fat 

 on a mole hill of frame. But the char- 

 acter of the food is not suited to the 

 health of the animal, and the inevitable 

 natural law steps in and threatens to 

 stop reproduction and points out the un- 

 suitableness of the food, by the tendency 

 to a scrofulous habit and more or less 

 desquamation of the skin, where circum- 

 stances are adverse in any degree to the 

 health of the creature. 



The berkshire is a native of the South 

 Sea Islands, where the population in- 

 stead of pressing on the means of sub- 

 sistence, the means of subsistence presses 

 the population. Vegetation is so luxu- 

 riantly vigorous and fruits and vegeta- 

 bles so extraordinarily abundant, says an 

 authority: "The South Sea Islands on 

 their discovery, by Europeans, were 

 found to be well stocked with a small, 

 short legged, black hog, and the tradi- 

 tionary belief of the human natives bore, 

 that they were as anciently descended 



as themselves. The hog in fact, in these 

 Island, is the principal quadruped, and 

 is, of all others the most carefully cul- 

 tivated. The fruit of the breed fruit tree, 

 either in the form of a sour paste, or in 

 its natural condition constitutes its fa- 

 vorite food, and its additional choice of 

 yams, eddoes, and other nutritive vege- 

 tables, renders its flesh most jucy and 

 delicious; its fat though rich, being at 

 the same time, not less delicate and 

 agreeable than the finest butter." In 

 these Islands, besides the hog the only 

 indigenous quadrupeds were the rat and 

 a small dog. Therefore being the larg- 

 est and strongest animal, and having no 

 occasion for defensive operation, the hog 

 ofthe Islands of the South Seas, has lost 

 his tusks to a great extent, and under 

 the most favorable circumstances for the 

 development of his nature, he has become 

 the small-boned, short-legged, round- 

 bodied, thrifty, hardy, prolific creature 

 we find him. No other breed seems to 

 have the vital force of this, and no ani- 

 mal more uniformly, certainly and dis- 

 tinctly, marks his offspring than the 

 Berkshire. He is among hogs, what the 

 Devon is among breeds of cattle. He 

 has the strongest eriginal constitution. 



The Hog belongs among the Mamma- 

 lia, to the order Packydermata, or the 

 thick-skinned. This order embraces 

 the elephant, the rhinoceros, the hippo- 

 potamus, the tapir, and the hog. The 

 whole race of Packyderms have the 

 same characteristics, modified, in the 

 hog, by climate and domestication. — 

 Black, dark or ash-colored skins, little 

 or no hair, proboscis more or less devel- 

 oped, gramivorous, with carnivorous in- 

 clinations, and an insatiable love for 

 tumbling about in the mud and water, 

 the coat and color and powerful tusks 

 of the wild boar of Europe, from which 

 our common breeds are descended, are, 

 no doubt due to the colder climate and to 

 such scarcity of food as makes his life 

 ofi'ensive and predaceous. It will be 

 seen then, that the Berkshire retains the 

 original characteristics of the order to 

 which he belongs, as far as relates to 

 skin, color and vital force; his small 

 bone, his aptitude to fatten, and his 

 reproductive energy, belong to many 

 hundred years of "singularly favorable 

 semi-domestication in the South Sea 

 islands. 



Let us grant that the full-blood Suf- 

 folk, or the Berkshire, is the breed for 

 those who are so situated as to command 

 an abundance of food, for which, than 

 for feeding hogs, they have no profitable 

 use : what breed is best suited to the 

 wants of the farmer of Illinois, who, if 

 he raises swine profitably, must graze 

 them and keep them until twelve, or 

 eighteen, or twenty months old? No 

 matter what the price of corn or pork 

 may be, the general farmer who pens 



:L>itiiui-.,iii-Ki;-.«»,'.-— '. . 



