1869.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
169 
Swine— Breeds and Breeding. 
There are probably not less than 37,000,000 
hogs in the United States at this time — there 
certainly will be more than that number in the 
JEFFERSON COUNTY.— (LARGE BREED.) 
course of the summer, or before the autumn 
slaughtering. There is no domestic animal 
more easily improved, and none which so quick- 
ly repays care and attention. It is a great pity 
that such careless methods of breeding and feed- 
ing should prevail, for ive venture to say the 
wealth of the country is thereby lesseued at the 
average rate of at least $5 a hog, amounting, 
in the aggregate, to §183,000,000 a year. The 
temptation to kill the best hogs in the fall is so 
great that breeding sows are often 
selected simply because they are poor and 
not fit to kill, and these are paired with 
males chosen from common stock in 
forty-nine cases out of fifty, we presume. 
Though the boars may be good, of their 
poor kind, the sows are, as often as not, 
bad, and so very little, if any, improve- 
ment takes place in the race. Now and 
then a little fresh blood is brought into 
a district, which makes its mark, and 
for years an improvement is observed. 
Among other excellent articles in the 
Auuricnn Agricultural Ann tail far 18G9, is 
one by our collaborator, Mr. Harris, on Pi c 
there inculcates forcibly the doctrine, that for 
profitable market pork, we should use large, 
pretty well-bred sows, with great digestive func- 
tions, crossing them with some of the fine, pure 
breeds, like the Berkshire, Essex, or Suffolk. 
This cross imparts to the progeny the fineness 
of bone, and smalluess of offal or worthless 
parts possessed by the sire, and the great ca- 
pacity of digestion, characteristic of the dam. 
By such crosses, pigs of exquisite beauty, to 
a high price for them as breeding animals. The 
sows may be used to breed from with partial 
success, but, for the production of really good 
breeding sows, should be crossed back with 
some large breed, like the Chester Co. Whites, 
or the Jefferson 
Co. Breed. This 
would produce 
fine, large, grade 
sows, of strong- 
constitutions — 
great milkers, 
and, of course, 
ravenous feed- 
ers — just what 
are wanted to 
cross with the 
fine-boned Es- 
sex or Suffolk, 
to give us pigs 
fit to kill at 9 
months old, weighing 300 to 350 pounds. They 
are easy keepers, too, for they make the most 
of every ounce of feed they have, whether in the 
pasture or penned. They are always plump 
and round, unless half-starved. Mr. Harris 
tells of his selling such pigs at a year old, 
right out of his pasture, to a drover, to " top oft'" 
a car load of pork for the New York market. 
There is no secret about having such pork, 
and there is no question about whether it is 
dresses just as white as that of a white pig, and 
we know no reason why color should make any 
difference iu our preference of breeds except as 
it may be one of the points to indicate good 
breeding or purity of race. The Jefferson Co. 
He 
SUFFOLK. 
-IsMiLL BREED.) 
a breeder's eye, are produced — often far sur- 
passing thik' parents. The boars, however, 
should be used only for slaughter, though thou- 
sands of farmers may be found who would pay 
ESSEX. — (SMALL BREED.) 
good to eat, if the pigs feed in clover pastures, and 
are hardened up for killing with sound corn. If 
all our pork was treated in this way, we should 
hear of no hog cholera or trichina; and other 
parasites, from one end of the land to the other. 
"When these views become disseminated, and 
accepted, and lived up to, we shall have in every 
part of the country careful breeders, who profit- 
ably devote themselves to raising certain breeds 
pure. Our farmers ought to have a personal 
knowledge of the best breeds of swine, and in- 
telligentlymake 
their own selec- 
tions, to unite 
^ =s _^^ st qualities they 
! most desire. We 
\r----- ^=:~-.-_ ^- give engravings 
fejglg of several of 
the best breeds. 
The Essex and 
Suffolks are fa- 
mous for fine- 
ness of bone, 
smallness of of- 
fal, and the cer- 
taintyofimpart- 
ing these valua- 
ble peculiari- 
ties to their 
offspring. The 
Berkshire is a somewhat larger breed, also fine 
in bone, and veiy economical feeders. The black 
color of the Essex and of the Berkshire is with 
some farmers considered an objection. The pork 
BERKSHIRE.— (SMALL BREED.) 
Breed is a composite race of immense hogs, 
reaching not very rarely the weight of 800 or 
1,000 pounds, which latter weight was that of 
the one sketched for our engraving. They are 
a finer boned breed than the Chester Co. Whites, 
and, we are inclined to think, have less rugged 
constitutions. The last named are too well 
known to need description. Originating in 
Chester Co., Penn., they have now been care- 
fully bred for several years, and enjoy a wide 
reputation. Both these breeds are white 
and large, and make admirable stock for 
breeding sows. The engravings of them 
are from sketches taken by Mr. Edwin 
Forbes. This gives us another opportu- 
igu ' nity to reiterate one of the cardinal prin- 
ciples of good farming — the use of thor- 
i%> oughbred males. We cauuot otherwise 
reckon with certainty upon improvement 
iu any of our stock. By using full- 
blooded boars, a stock of coarse pigs, in 
two generations, may be brought up to 
great excellence, but a continuance of the 
same system is necessary to maintain its 
high character. The continual use of males of 
a small breed will refine and reduce the size of 
pigs, especially after the first generation. 
Hence there is especial need of maintaining 
pure both the large and the small breeds. By 
this means we gain, in the way above speci- 
fied, strong digestive powers, constitution, ra- 
pidity of growth, fineness of bone, and small- 
ness of offal in hogs destined for feeding and 
slaughter. The same principles apply to rais- 
ing beef, mutton, and poultry, and those who 
CHESTER CO. WHITE. — (LARGE BREED.) 
follow them will be sure to be the gainers. 
The time has passed for an intelligent farmer to 
advocate using mongrel or grade male breeding 
animals with any class of stock however inferior. 
