560 



THE SOUTH 



ERN PLANTER. 



already alluded to, has disappeared from the 

 face of the earth. Breeding swine with such a 

 rate of increase must be almost as profitable as 

 " shaving" notes at two per cent, per month ; 

 but still the impression is irresistibly forced 

 upon us, that, in a family so numerous, those 

 who came last to dinner, at least in their infant 

 'days, would not have gained flesh very rapidly. 

 Indeed, in such a family it would seem almost 

 impossible to dispense with the services of a 

 wet nurse, in order to bring up profitably the 

 rising generation. 



The course of the pig, like that of the Star 

 of Empire, has ever tended westward. From 

 China we trace him to Italy, the gloomy 

 mountains of the Hartz, the broad plains of 

 Westphalia, the fertile valleys of France, and 

 to the waving forests of Merrie England 

 all have known him since the days when their 

 bold barons and hungry retainers sat down to 

 feast on the juicy chine of the wild boar, and 

 the savoury haunch of venison. In green Erin 

 piggy has been an important member of society ; 

 true, he has shared his master's meal, and 

 basked in the comfortable warmth of his cabin; 

 but, like a " gintleman" as he is, he has ever 

 paid the "rint and St. Patrick, in the pleni- 

 tude of his power and influence, never saw the 

 day he could have banished him from that 

 *' gem of the ocean.'' 



When the pig first crossed to this western 

 world remains in doubt. Whether he came 

 with the Pilgrims, pressing with the foot of a 

 pioneer the Blarney-stone of New England, and 

 scanning with fearless eye the cheerless pros- 

 pect before him, or whether, regardless of 

 liberty of conscience, and careful only of his 

 own comfort, he waited till the first trials and 

 toils of a new settlement had been met and 

 overcome, we have no record ; enough for us 

 that he is here ; how or where he came con- 

 cerns us not. He is among us and of us. From 

 souse to sausage we have loved him ; from ham 

 to harselet we have honoured him ; from chine 

 to chops we have cherished him. The care we 

 have shown him has been repaid a hundred- 

 fold. He has loaded our tables, and lighted 

 our fire-sides, and smiling plenty has fijllowed 

 in his steps, where hungry famine would have 

 stalked in his absence. 



But still further towards the setting sun has 

 been the arena of the pig's greatest triumphs ; 

 there have been the fields of his widest in- 

 fluence. Beneath the vast forests of Ohio, 

 raining to the ground their yearly harvests of 

 mast — through her broad corn-fields, stretching 

 as far as the eye can see, he has roamed, and 

 fed, and fattened. From him, and the commer- 

 cial interests he has mainly contributed to 

 establish, has grown a mighty State, scarcely 

 second to any in this confederacy ; from his 

 ashes has arisen a new order in society — the 

 " Bristleocracy of the great West." 



A broad levee bustling with business, lofty 

 and spacious stores and slaughter-houses, 



crowded pens, and a river bearing on itiS bosom 

 steamboats in fleets — all attest the influence 

 which the pig has exerted on the agricultural 

 and commercial interests of the great State of 

 Ohio. He has filled the cofi'ers of her bankers, 

 and has bought the silks which cover her belles. 

 He has built the beautiful palaces which adorn 

 the "Queen City of the West," and feeds the 

 princely luxury of those who inhabit them. 

 There he is almost an object of worship, and 

 his possession is considered as about equivalent 

 to a patent of nobility. Fancy dimly paints 

 the picture, when a few years hence, the weal- 

 thy pork merchant, who justly boasts his 

 numerous quarterings, shall, in the true spirit 

 of heraldy, paint on the panel of his carriage, 

 and on the escutcheon over his doorway, a 

 lustrious shield, bearing in brilliant colours a 

 single pig, his bristles all rampant, his tail 

 closely curlant, and his mouth widely opant, 

 till the lions, the griffins, and the unicorns of 

 ■the Old World shall fade into insignificance 

 before the heraldic devices of the New." 



George S. Tait, Chairman. 



From the Genesee Farmer. 



The Life of a Farmer— Healthful, Pleas- 

 ant, Profitable and Honorable. 



That the life of a farmer is healthful, h&g 

 frequently been shown by tables of comparative 

 longevity, and one of these for Massachusetts 

 shows that their lives exceed the general ave- 

 rage by twelve years, and go nearly nineteen 

 years above that of the common laborer, and 

 eighteen above the average at death of those 

 engaged in mechanical pursuits. There seems 

 to exist a sanitive influence in the varied em- 

 ployments of the agriculturist — in its fresh and 

 suggestive surroundings. So the young man 

 to whom along life seems desirable, may choose 

 the occupation of a farmer with the greatest 

 likelihood of seeing in their fullness the allotted 

 years of man. For whenever and wherever 

 such statistics have been gathered, they bring 

 facts to confirm the healthfulness and longevity 

 of the tillers of the soil. 



That the life of a farmer is pleasant, seems, 

 at least, the opinion of the great mass outside 

 the employment, if their professions are to be 

 believed. A city writer, speaking upon the 

 subject, remarks : " The man in active business 

 in other departments, pictures for himself in 

 his retirement a rural home — a little farm well 

 tilled — and on that he hopes to end his days. 

 Ambitious men, who have drunk deeply of 

 fame, are at a stand when the tide of their 

 affairs are at a turn, whether to make new and 

 earnest efforts to struggle upward, or to buy a 

 farm and in the peaceful labors it requires, to 

 enjoy a tranquil close of life." Merchants, 

 lawyers, and physicians, we may add, when 

 most rapidly accumulating fortunes, often stop 

 to consider whether a competence and a snug 

 farm are not more desirable than wealth, amid 



