102 



THE SOU THE 



RN PLANTER. 



these breeds, one of the earliest improved was 

 the Berkshire, so named from the county of that 

 name; but the principal improvement of the 

 breed was made in the counties farther north, 

 chiefly in Leicestershire and Staffordshire. It 

 still retains, however, its original designation, 

 and the Berkshire has long been known as one 

 of the most generally-spread of the improved 

 breeds of England. 



" The true Berkshires are of the larger races 

 of swine, although they fall short in size of 

 some of the older breeds, as the Hampshire, the 

 Rudgwick, and some others. They are usually 

 of a reddish brown color, with brown or black 

 spots — a character which makes it appear that 

 one of the means employed to improve them, 

 was a cross with the wild boar. The Berkshire 

 has long been regarded as one of the superior 

 breeds of England, combining size with a suffi- 

 cient aptitude to fatten, and as being fitted for 

 pork and bacon ; it has been regarded also as 

 the hardiest of the more improved races. The 

 Berkshire breed has, like every other, been 

 crossed and re-crossed with the Chinese or Chi- 

 nese crosses, so as to lessen the size of the ani- 

 mals, and render them more suited to the demand 

 which has arisen for small and delicate pork. — 

 Many of the modern breed are nearly black, in- 

 dicating their approach to the Siamese character, 

 and sometimes they are black, broken with 

 white, showing the effect of the cross with the 

 white Chinese: from this intermixture, it be- 

 comes in many cases difficult to recognise, in 

 the present race, the characters of the true Berk- 

 shire. And although no doubt can exist with 

 respect to the great benefit that has arisen from 

 diminishing the size and coarseness of the for- 

 mer swine of England, yet assuredly there 

 should be limits to this diminution in the size of 

 the hog, as of every other animal cultivated for 

 food ; and, in many cases, the diminution of size 

 has been merely to suit the caprice of taste. — 

 The larger kinds of pigs do not find a ready 

 sale in the markets of great cities, and hence, 

 the more essential property of an abundant pro- 

 duction of butcher's meat is sacrificed ; but we 

 should remember that the supply of pork is of 

 immense importance to the support of the inha- 

 bitants of every country, for in the state of bacon 

 it is largely consumed by the mass of the people, 

 and in the salted state, it is used in the supplies 

 of shipping— it is not, therefore, for the general 

 good, that the old breeds of England should be 

 merged in the smaller races of China and other 

 countries; and while we should improve by 

 every means the larger breeds that are left us, 

 we should take care that we do not sacrifice 

 them altogether; the country might one day re- 

 gret that this over -refinement has been practised, and 

 future improvers exert themselves in vain to recover 

 those fine old breeds which had been abandoned! 

 In place of unceasing crossing with the smaller 



breeds, it would be more praiseworthy and bene- 

 ficial, to apply to our larger races those princi- 

 ples of breeding which, in the case of other ani- 

 mals, have succeeded. By mere selection of 

 the parents, we could remove all the defective 

 characters of the larger breeds, and give to them 

 all the degree of fineness which consists with 

 their bulk of body ; for there is no animal so easily 

 changed in form,, and moulded to our purposes, as 

 the hog. 



" Hogs are from time to time brought by our 

 innumerable shipping, from the countries of the 

 Mediterranean, as Italy, Turkey, Spain, and 

 mingled with the swine of the country. Of the 

 Mediterranean breeds, the Maltese was at one 

 time in favor ; it was of small size, black color, 

 nearly destitute of bristles, and capable of fat- 

 tening quickly ; but at the present time, a breed 

 from the country near Naples has been intro- 

 duced, and has been employed very extensively 

 to cross the other breeds: this breed, like the 

 Maltese, is of small size, and of a black color : 

 it is nearly destitute of hair or bristles, but on 

 being bred several times in this country, the 

 bristles come: the flesh is exceedingly good, but 

 the animals themselves are destitute of hardi- 

 ness, and unsuited for general use, but they have 

 been made to cross the other swine of the coun- 

 try, and the progeny exhibit much fineness of 

 form and aptitude to fatten : their flesh too is 

 delicate, on which account the Neapolitan crosses 

 are in considerable favor in several parts of Eng- 

 land. But there are other races of Italy which 

 might, with greater benefit than that of Naples, 

 have been introduced into this country ; the best 

 hogs of Italy are supposed to be produced in 

 the Duchy of Parma ; they are of larger size 

 than those of Naples, while they possess even 

 greater aptitude to fatten, and yield pork equally 

 white and delicate." 



AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL IN BUCKINGHAM. 



A few weeks ago Mr. J. F. Schermerhorn, a 

 gentleman with whom we have been slightly 

 acquainted for several years, informed us that 

 he had purchased an establishment known as 

 the "Female Collegiate Institute" in Bucking- 

 ham, which he intended to devote to the estab- 

 lishment of an agricultural school. He pro- 

 mised to develope his plans more fully to us at a 

 future day, and we forbore to mention the sub- 

 ject until we heard farther from him ; but in the 

 meantime, we find the following in the New 

 York Farmer, which may be interesting to our 

 readers. 



We look with great interest to this projet of 

 Mr. Schermerhorn. Every thing will depend 

 upon the details of his plan : a failure will strike 



