PIGSTIES.-SHOW OF THE BERKSHIRE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
365 
PIGSTIES. 
There is perhaps nothing that more strikingly 
marks the thrifty farmer than the judicious arrange¬ 
ment and good condition of his farm-buildings. 
Having had occasion lately to erect some pig¬ 
sties, and being dissatisfied with the old arrange¬ 
ment, I set about devising a more convenient one. 
My plan, on trial, is found to answer an excellent 
purpose. I send you a copy, with a description, 
hoping that it may prove of some service to my 
fellow farmers; or at least excite their attention to 
this important, but much-neglected branch of farm 
economy. 
The cut represents one of a series of pens 
that of course may be extended to any number. 
Description. —Pen 12 by 18 feet. Letters a, posts of 
cedar or white oak, 8 feet long, set in the ground 
3 feet, and 6 feet apart each way. On the inner 
side of the first three tiers of posts, short posts are 
inserted, on which are laid stout oak sleepers to 
support a floor of 2-inch plank, which must have a 
sufficient slope back and towards the passage way, 
A, to carry off water freely; the last plank being 
raised a little at the lower edge so as to form a 
gutter through the passage, A, carrying all the slops 
into the manure-yard, B, in the rear. 
The space between the second and third rows 
of posts to be covered with a roof resting on 
the top of them over the sleeping apartment, C, 
and the passage way, and enclosed all around 
excepting the doors to the sleeping apartment, 
and at each end of the passage, which should 
each be 2 feet wide by 3 high. This leaves a 
floored apartment, D, in front (which should be to 
the south), of 6 by 12 feet, in which is placed a 
trough, b , with a spout, d, from the outside, for 
feeding. A ledge should be raised in front of the 
sleeping apartment, to keep the wet from running 
in, and the front posts under the roof must be 2 feet 
higher than the rest, to give it sufficient slope. 
The manure-yard, B, 6 by 12 feet (which, by 
this arrangement, is effectually hid from view), 
should be paved with large stones, to prevent the 
hogs from rooting too deep. The whole to be en¬ 
closed with good boards about 4 feet high, leaving 
a gate, c, to the manure-yard. J, M C. 
Perth Amboy , Oct. 19,1846. 
Superior Whitewash.— Potter’s clay mixed 
with prepared whitewash in the proportion of a 
pound of clay to a q lart of liquid, is excellent. 
SHOW OF THE BERKSHIRE AGRICULTU¬ 
RAL SOCIETY. 
The thirty-sixth anniversary of this Institution 
was celebrated by the farmers, mechanics, mer¬ 
chants, lawyers, physicians, clergy, and ladies of 
Berkshire, and a large assemblage of visitors from 
abroad, at Pittsfield, on the 7th and 8th of October, 
with all the usual demonstrations of joy and kind 
friendly feeling which a feast of the in-gathering of 
the harvest can be supposed by the most poetic 
feelings to inspire. 
At an early hour on the morning of the 8th, the 
wave of concourse commenced rolling on our hill¬ 
sides, and through our valleys, bearing in it? 
course the patriarch of hoary years, together with 
his sons rejoicing in robust manhood, and his 
daughters smiling with matronly grace, bear¬ 
ing “ their little ones like flocksand attended 
by their oxen given to strength, their generous 
kine, and bleating flocks; and a wave accu¬ 
mulating new strength in every motion, so that 
long ere high noon had marked the zenith of 
the day, our metropolitan village exhibited a 
floating mass of living things, borne together 
- by a mighty impulse of kindred thought and 
1 d feeling, from the most distant corners and ob- 
J scure recesses of our territory. 
The exhibition of neat stock was said by 
competent judges to have been in every respect 
superior to that of any previous occasion. In 
the beauty and strength of horses, Berkshire 
has not in former days been celebrated ; but it was 
remarked by many that the show of these animals 
gave assurance that the enterprise of her farmers 
was waking up in this particular, a fact which is of 
itself evidence, that these hills will, ere long, fur¬ 
nish ranges of as beautiful stock of this species as 
ever luxuriated on the plains of Arabia. 
The sheep and swine more than sustained the 
character of former years. Among the noble ani¬ 
mals that graced the pens were the Durham heifers, 
recently introduced from the land of peers and 
nobles, by the Hon. Edward A. Newton, of Pittsfield. 
Notwithstanding their late arrival from over old 
ocean, they appeared perfectly “ at home,” among 
the new scenes of their surroundings, and highly- 
pleased with the becoming simplicity of our repub¬ 
lican institutions. The reputed eagerness with 
which Yankees gaze at strangers, and the guessing 
and wondering always attendant when he sees a 
new object, caused no dismay to them. Should 
they ever pant for usages in society which acknow¬ 
ledge sovereign power, other than the power of the 
people, they would undoubtedly yield as willing 
and as great a tribute to the queen of the milk pail, 
as they would to the reigning sovereign of the 
British isles. 
From the show of animals, we passed to the 
spacious Town Hall, the grand repository of beau¬ 
tiful specimens of handiwork and shrewd inge¬ 
nuity—carpets, rugs, blankets, quilts, stockings, 
mittens, boots, shoes, gentlemen’s and ladies’ hats; 
indeed, everything calculated to protect the outer 
man from the invasion of the stern old king of the 
north (whose approaches are already heralded by the 
advance guard of chilling winds and nipping frosts), 
were there seen, got up in styles of admiration and 
