Tour in England—Berkshires. 
T1 
large wings, increasing it to more than double its ori¬ 
ginal capacity, every part of which is occupied by 
the scholars. Here then, we have a great practical 
benefit, the furnishing annually, perhaps 50 or 60 
' teachers, every way suited, by their peculiar training 
in habits and acquirements, to disseminate in the 
cheapest manner, the blessings of education through¬ 
out the land. Will the millions of Mr. Girard effect 
more for the community when all the plans of his 
administrators have come to their fullest maturity, 
than has been already accomplished by this almost 
unaided individual ? 
One other instance, and we have done. The illus¬ 
trious Fellenburgh, on coming into possession of a 
handsome, though by no means extravagant patrimo¬ 
ny, determined at once to begin the application of it 
to practical purposes, without waiting its accumula¬ 
tion through a long life of, it might be, doubtful suc¬ 
cess. With this view, he immediately established his 
agricultural and other schools at Hoffwyl in Swit¬ 
zerland, and became himself the teacher and super- 
intendant of the pupils, and placed his daughter at the 
head of the female department; and through a long 
series of years has he, from his own resources, con¬ 
ducted this establishment, rendering more benefit to 
his country and the world, than any other institution, 
endowed by successive generations of his country¬ 
men, had in the same time effected. 
The moral we wish to educe is obvious. Those 
benevolent individuals of our own state and country, 
who intend to bequeath large sums for the benefit of 
the community, (?) will secure the object of their in¬ 
tended benevolence most effectually, by at once ap¬ 
plying their funds to this object, instead of incurring 
the hazard of their accumulation or safety, in this age 
of Bank explosions, and Trust delinquencies, or 
chancery and executory application; and enjoy while 
living, the luxury of witnessing the effect of their self- 
directed bounty. r. 
Tour in England. No* 3. 
History of the Berkshires. —Arrived 
now in the heart of old Berkshire, the public 
will probably expect to see some account of the 
early history, the breeding-, rearing, and treat¬ 
ing of the celebrated animals to which this 
county has given a name. We very much 
regret, that we had not more time than was at 
our command, while in England, to fully elu¬ 
cidate this subject, as well as many others of 
great interest to the agricultural community, 
but hope at some future time we may be able 
to accomplish this satisfactorily. But what 
few facts we at present have at command, are 
probably about all that the generality of readers 
will care to know. We shall therefore pro¬ 
ceed to state them as succinctly as possible, and 
trust that they will be considered sufficient 
without obliging us to again refer to the 
subject. 
We traversed this and the neighboring shires 
of Hants, Wilts, Oxon, Bucks, and Surry, in 
those directions where it was thought important 
to do so, and were generally attended by stock 
purchasers in our rambles, who were perfectly 
conversant with the whole breeding of this 
region, and we think that we were as thorough 
and indefatigable in the search after Berkshires, li 
of the best breeding and quality, as the cir* 
cumstances of the case would permit, or perhaps 
was of any particular benefit to the public or 
ourselves. 
All who pretended to any positive knowledge 
of the subject with whom we conversed, agreed 
that this breed of swine originally was a large 
and rather coarse animal, of a white or buff 
color, intermixed with black spots, and that 
they were improved to their present great per¬ 
fection of form and dark color, by the Siamese 
or China boar. One quite intelligent respect¬ 
able old gentleman, of a handsome estate, re-> 
siding at Southbridge, twelve miles from Read¬ 
ing, with whom we conversed, distinctly recol¬ 
lected about fifty years ago, when small prick 
eared black boars were brought into his neigh¬ 
borhood to refine their large hogs; but Mr. 
Westbrook of Bysham informed us, that his 
father possessed them in great perfection sixty 
years since, of a dark rich plumb color, mingled 
with a little white. He (the son) however, had 
suffered the stock left him to breed in and 
deteriorate so much, that we thought it not 
worth purchasing from; but another person, 
who had of it some years ago, and who had 
paid good attention to it, allowed us to choose 
two of his finest sow pigs of this family ana 
color, perfect almost in form, and of a good 
large size. 
From Bysham they probably gradually 
found their way along up the Thames, and to 
different parts of the county and its neighbor¬ 
hood. At Reading they told us that they had 
known them only for about forty years. When 
we wrote our “Chapter on Swine,” that ap¬ 
peared in the Cultivator some two years since, 
it was on the authority of different friends who 
had resided in the south and west of Berkshire, 
Professor Low and some others, that we assert¬ 
ed that the improvement began about the year 
1800, but it seems that our informants only 
knew of it in their quarter at that period, and 
that it is now distinctly traced by Mr. West¬ 
brook as far back as 1780. We are rejoiced 
at this, and hope it will be possible to go still 
farther hereafter, as it will only make the breed 
the more valuable in our estimation, as showing 
that it has a long established character in gen¬ 
eral excellence and pedigree, unknown to any 
thing of the domestic kind, the Asiatic hog 
alone excepted. 
The Berkshire is now generally acknowl¬ 
edged to possess more good points in him than 
any other breed whatever, as he is of the largest 
'profitable size, of the truest and best shape, and 
has the most symmetrical limbs, and superadded 
to these, joins what is rather remarkable, fine 
thin hair and soft skin, to great hardiness and 
constitution. They are prolific breeders, tho 
