OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 147 



A BERKSHIRE BARON 



55. The development of swine interests at the International 

 Livestock Show laid almost exclusively during the first 

 seventeen exhibitions in the hands of Mr. Andrew J. Lovejoy, 

 charter member of the International Association and one time 

 president He was bom December 5, 1844, and reared on River- 

 side Farm, flanking the little Rock River, near Roscoe, 111. Of 

 robust frame, he spent his early years on the farm and assisted 

 his father in the agricultural operations then customary in 

 Winnebago. When twenty-one years of age, he went to Chicago 

 where he obtained employment as a driver of a notion wagon. 

 This outfit soon developed into a huge four horse truck from 

 which he did a prosperous business across northern Illinois. 

 While on the road he found plenty of opportunity to think about 

 farming and rural problems, so when he became connected with 

 a wholesale drygoods concern in Chicago, he laid away from 

 his sa\'ings the money with which to buy the family home. As he 

 was possessed of a keen eye for those characteristics that denote 

 strong breeding, he chose the Berkshire for his chief breed on 

 the farm, and purchased a boar and sow as foundations, for 

 $50. He advertised extensively and succeeded in developing 

 breeding animals that justified the claims of his advertisements. 

 In the early years of the International he made consistently 

 strong shows, winning the grand championship in 1901 on his 

 boar Combination. This winning gave him a reputation that 

 attracted a numerous clientele of buyers to his farm. He was 

 selected by showryard managers to judge swine, and breeders' 

 and farmers' organizations chose him to address their meetings. 

 He became a contributor to the farm journals and a valued 

 lecturer before agricultural college students. In 1902 his annual 

 auction developed an average of S107.75 per head, at that time 

 the highest average ever attained by the breed. 



