1882.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
291 
The Swine of Ten States. 
BT F. D. COBURN, TOPEKA, KANSAS. 
Of the thirty-five to forty million hogs in 
the United States, three-fifths are raised in 
ten strictly Mississippi Valley States, viz :— 
Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, Ken¬ 
tucky, Tennessee, Kansas, Nebraska and Wis¬ 
consin. These States produce annually nearly 
three-fourths of the entire corn crop of the 
country. Fifteen years ago the great bulk 
of hogs grown in these States were white, or 
white color predominated, and little atten¬ 
tion had been paid to their improvement, ex¬ 
cept to breed from the best of common stock 
of easy access in any particular neighbor¬ 
hood. But within this period of 15 years 
almost a revolution has taken place in breed¬ 
ing, quality, and color. Now comparatively 
few are raised which are not improved and 
approved breeds or their crosses, giving more 
compact forms, earlier maturity, easier fat¬ 
tening on less feed, and a large increase of 
valuable product from the gross live weight. 
Instead of being mostly white, eighty-five to 
ninety per cent of the hogs are now black 
or nearly so, and the two breeds that, pure 
and in their crosses, furnish the most of these 
swine are the “ Roland-Chinas,” an estab¬ 
lished breed that originated in the Mississippi 
Valley, and the “ Berkshires,” imported from 
England. There is here and there an occa¬ 
sional Essex Pig, also an English breed—the 
only other black one we have. The present 
white hogs are the descendants of the old 
common stock of that color, crossed more 
generally with the Chester Whites, of Penn¬ 
sylvania, and to some extent with the English 
Yorkshires or Suffolks, which are small, and 
sustain the same relation to Chesters and 
other large white hogs, that the small Essex 
do to the invariably dark-colored Poland- 
Chinas and Berkshires. 
Mr. Sherman, Superintendent of the Union 
Stock-Yards at Chicago, where more hogs 
are handled each year than at any other one 
point in the world, has recently stated to the 
writer that nine-tenths of all the hogs pass¬ 
ing through these yards during the last three 
years were of the dark breeds.—The Superin¬ 
tendent of the Kansas City Stock-yards, 
where more than a million hogs were cared 
for in 1881, says that ten years ago half the 
hogs arriving there were white, while now 
ninety-three out of a hundred are black.—At 
the Kansas City Exposition of last year, no 
white hogs were shown, and at the two State 
Fairs in Kansas, at each of which some 
three hundred head were exhibited, there 
was but one white hog. An unusual degree 
of popularity enjoyed by one of the two 
leading breeds in any locality is offset by the 
same partiality for the other somewhere else. 
Each person who raises either one in its purity 
has full faith in its being good enough, and 
those who cross the two are confident the 
product is an improvement, in some respects, 
on either of its ancestral breeds. 
In somewhat the same ratio that dark hogs 
have increased in popularity, there have de¬ 
veloped improved methods of care and feed¬ 
ing, as well as breeding. But a few years 
ago Indian corn was considered by most 
farmers the cheapest, best, and about the only 
food specially desirable for either the grow¬ 
ing pig or the fattening hog ; now it is quite 
generally admitted that the hog is, to a large 
extent, a grazing animal, that thrives on 
grass, and makes a healthy rapid growth on 
various roots that are produced in large 
quantities easily and cheaply. Of the latter, 
artichokes and beets are good examples ; and 
of the former, clover, alfalfa, and blue-grass. 
The Pig in Clover and Alfalfa. —The 
clovers have already come to be highly es¬ 
teemed for swine, and Alfalfa is likely to soon 
become a prominent subject of experiment 
and inquiry in the same direction, according 
to the statements of those who know it best. 
Prof. Shelton, of the Kansas Agricultural 
College, has experimented with it since 1875, 
and does not now hesitate to say that one 
acre of Alfalfa is worth as much for hogs as 
five acres of Artichokes; that it furnished 
two or three times the amount of food that 
clover or blue-grass does, and will endure 
drouth better than any other crop, “ not ex¬ 
cepting white oak timber.”—With its natural 
advantages, its rapidly developing resources, 
and improving methods, the Valley of “The 
Father of Waters” is likely in the future to 
furnish, of a better quality and for less 
money, the pork to feed the nations and the 
lard to lubricate their throats and machinery, 
than any other portion of the globe. 
Mistakes will need to be guarded against, 
and one now apparently most imminent is a 
too close breeding, and especially from 
parents with constitutions degenerated by 
high keeping and the continued “refining,” 
that within certain bounds has proved so 
beneficial. To assist in counteracting such an 
evil, and give an out-cross that will impart 
new vigor and stamina, some of the less 
known breeds—such as the Durocs or Jersey 
Reds—may in time answer a valuable pur¬ 
pose. Some of these various named, rust- 
colored hogs, are claimed as extremely hardy, 
and for crossing purposes may prove a valu¬ 
able acquisition. In the hog family, as in the 
human, too much idleness and too long-con- 
, tinued high-keeping entails evil consequences. 
Southern Pastures and Pasturage. 
BT G. C. SWALLOW, PROFESSOR OF AGRICULTURE, MIS¬ 
SOURI UNIVERSITY. 
The leading field crops of the South-west, 
which comprises Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, 
Texas, and Louisiana are :—Herbage, Forage, 
Corn, Wheat, Oats, Rye, Barley, Rice, Buck¬ 
wheat, Sugar and Molasses, Potatoes, Arti¬ 
chokes, Pumpkins, Cotton, Hemp, Flax, To¬ 
bacco, Hops, Castor Bean, and Broom-Corn. 
Herbage, including all cultivated and wild 
plants upon which domestic animals feed in 
pastures, prairies, and forests, is by far the 
most abundant and valuable of all the pro¬ 
ductions of the South-west. It constitutes 
at least two-thirds of all the food of cattle, 
horses, mules, sheep and goats, and one-half 
of what is eaten by swine. Down to the 
present time these States have, for the most 
part, depended upon native grasses and other 
wild plants for the summer and winter graz¬ 
ing of domestic animals. The amount of 
forage and grain fed, is comparatively small. 
Our native grasses of the prairies and open 
forests (Oak Openings), are as nourishing as 
the cultivated grasses of the older States, as 
grown in open and woodland pastures. And 
besides, the pea-vines and cane cover large 
areas of the timbered bottoms or alluvial 
lands, with the best possible winter pastures. 
Before these native pastures were over¬ 
stocked, no better range could be found for 
cattle, horses, mules, sheep, goats, and swine. 
The prairies, which occupied fully one-half 
the area of these States, with their grasses 
so luxuriant as to hide the grazing herds, the 
deer and buffalo, were the best possible sum¬ 
mer pastures ; and the forests with their rank 
growth of pea-vines and cane, were the very 
best winter pastures. In these natural pas¬ 
tures the stock does as well as by the ordi¬ 
nary mode of grazing and feeding in the oldel 
and Eastern States. The mast and other 
fruits are an important item in this mode of 
raising stock. Vast numbers of cattle, horses, 
and sheep have been raised on these native 
pastures of the South-west, and for the last 
twenty years the largest amount of beef 
made upon herbage was driven from this re¬ 
gion to our Eastern and Southern markets. 
These natural pastures are not so produc¬ 
tive as in years past. While large portions 
of Kansas and Texas still feed immense herds 
on their vast prairies, the older States find it 
necessary to resort to artificial means to keep 
up the needed supply of herbage. 
Much inquiry and many experiments have 
been made to determine the best herbage 
plants for the improvement of our pastures. 
In Missouri and Eastern Kansas the Kentucky 
Blue-grass is the best for improving the pas¬ 
tures of those regions. This grass quickly 
spreads over the prairies when they are closely 
grazed, and over the timber when brushed- 
out and ‘ opened as woodland pasture; and 
this process is greatly accelerated by sowing 
the seed. Blue-grass furnishes a hardy an 
rapid growth of nourishing herbage gratefu 
to all graminivorous animals. The largest 
and best cattle, horses, mules, sheep, and 
swine are raised almost exclusively on this 
grass. It starts early in the spring, grows 
rapidly in the summer, and makes the best 
winter pastures, when not grazed too close 
in summer and autumn. Clover is exten¬ 
sively used for summer pastures, and Rye to 
some extent for the winter. Timothy, Red- 
top, and other grasses are used to improve 
pastures of the northern part of this region. 
In Texas and the adjacent regions of the 
South, several native grasses are relied upon 
for the improvement of pastures. Herbage 
plants, under the names of Wild Oats, Wild 
Rye, Wheat-grass, Winter-grass, Gamma- 
grass, Bermuda-grass, Colorado-grass, Mes- 
quite-grass, make most excellent pastures for 
cattle, horses, sheep, and swine. Some of 
these grasses promise to make the very best 
herbage for permanent pastures. The Mes- 
quite-grass is said to be fully equal to the 
Blue-grass for permanent grazing. The Win¬ 
ter-grass has no superior for winter pastures 
in the prairie regions. In Southern Missouri; 
Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana, cane-brakes 
fenced in and protected, make the best 
winter pastures, and may doubtless be made 
permanent by proper management. 
But as to what are the best plants for pas¬ 
tures, and what the best culture for them, 
are still open questions for the South-west, 
and it is expected future experiments will lead 
to much-needed improvement in this depart¬ 
ment of husbandry. As the country settles 
up, this question of herbage for the vast 
quantities of stock will assume more and 
more importance, and force upon us a more 
improved system of pasture culture. Fully 
two-thirds of all the food consumed by the 
cattle, horses, mules, sheep, and goats, and 
fully one-half of that eaten by swine, is ob¬ 
tained by grazing; and no other mode of 
feeding, now known, can be substituted for 
the cheap production of meat and work stock. 
