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THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



that land they fed off, in five months, and fat- 

 tened for the butcher, eighty beasts and three 

 hundred sheep, and afterwards carted into the 

 farm-yard three hundred and fifty tons of turnips. 

 In the present year they had a very fair crop of 

 barley and oats, which his friend, Mr. Henry, 

 would be very glad to show to any gentleman 

 who felt any curiosity on the subject. Now he 

 did not hesitate to say that that land was, at 

 that moment, worth thirty shillings an acre. — 

 The outlay upon it for pulling up old fences, 

 thoroughly draining, tilling, and breaking it up, 

 amounted just to seven pounds ten shillings per 

 acre, giving just twenty shillings for every one 

 hundred and fifty shillings of outlay, and giving 



to the landlord a permanent interest of fourteen 

 per cent, on the money laid out on that unpro- 

 mising ground. It happened that in the same 

 year they took into their own hands land which 

 had been abandoned by the tenant as perfectly 

 worthless. It was a large field of twenty-two 

 acres of very poor sandy soil. It was drained 

 at an expense of two pounds per statute acre 3 

 and in the first year they fed off on that land 

 one hundred and twenty sheep, the remaining 

 part of the turnips being carted to the farm-yard ■ 

 and he ventured to say, that at the expense of 

 two pounds per acre, the land was increased in 

 value ten shillings per acre to the landlord, and 

 as much to the tenant. — New England Farmer. 



THE CHESTER COUNTY HOG. 



We notice that the Editor of the "Prairie 

 Farmer" makes himself quite merry with some 

 opinions expressed by one of our correspondents, 

 who expresses a preference for the common 

 breed of the country, what might be called the 

 cold bred hog, over the thorough bred Berkshire. 

 We can inform the Editor that this opinion is 

 not so peculiar nor so absurd as he might ima- 

 gine. A very large majority of farmers in this 

 State, at least, complain bitterly of the injury 

 done their original stock by the cross of the 

 Berkshire, which they were induced to adopt 

 by the high flown panegyrics bestowed upon 

 them by WTiters for agricultural papers. For 

 our own part, we believe there are some good 

 things in the Berkshires, although they have 

 certainly been greatly overrated. Many of those 



who complain of them never saw a good Berk- 

 shire; detestable frauds were practised in some 

 instances, and great errors committed in others; 

 a great error it certainly was to introduce into 

 j the breeding stud any hog merely because he 

 was of Berkshire parentage, without regard to 

 ' his particular form. We have, however, seen 

 j some few cases of decided improvement by a 

 judicious cross with a well selected Berkshire ; 

 but a great objection to the best of this stock 

 is, we think the lightness of weight and the 

 accumulation of flesh on the ham and shoulder, 

 at the expense of the middling. In a conversa- 

 tion we lately held with the Rev. Jesse Turner, 

 who had certainly the purest and finest stock of 

 Berkshires in this region, of which he was at 

 one time completely enamored, he admitted to 



