1871 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
4-15 
casual observer might suppose they were Berk- 
shires. 
“Are they as black as the Berksliires?” asks 
the Deacon, -who has a decided prejudice 
against color. 
Some that were shown were almost white, 
but the greater portion were black hogs with 
white spots. There seemed to be no uniformity 
in this respect. From what I could learn from 
the breeders, I judge that they are aiming to 
get them blacker and blacker. Several told me 
that the blacker they got them the finer they 
became, and the easier they fattened. 
The Magies and Berksbires were the two 
leading breeds at Chicago. I think there must 
have been nearly or quite two thousand of each 
breed on exhibition. It was too much of a good 
thing. The judges must have had a hard time, 
and got little thanks for their labors. 
Chester Whites, in comparison with the Magies 
and Berlcshires, were “nowhere.” I should 
judge that this breed is hardly holding its own. 
And the same will apply to the Cheshires. 
Black seems to be the winning color at the West. 
The “Suffolk, Essex, small Yorkshire, and 
other small breeds,” were all huddled together, 
black and white, in one class. There was a 
good pen or two of imported “Lancastershire” 
pigs shown in this-class. I suppose they are 
essentially Yorkshires. There were also two or 
three pens of capital Suffolks from Canada, 
some of them recently imported from England. 
There was a very fair show of Essex, and the 
most interesting fact in regard to them, was that 
the home-bred pigs were far superior, at least 
in my judgment, to some just imported from 
England by a leading Canadian breeder. And 
why should we not raise just as good pigs here 
as they can in England ? We ought to be able 
to raise better, and I believe we shall soon do it. 
To me, the word “imported” adds no value to 
any animal. I heard the man in charge of Mr. 
Wood’s Essex tell some one that a particularly 
fine sow was u imported from Mr. Thorne ”! 
The show of “ crosses ” was not as interesting 
as I expected. The largest exhibition in this 
class showed pigs from a Magie sow, sired by a 
boar that was “ part Berkshire and part Magie,” 
and I imagine part Essex also ! This is cross¬ 
ing with a vengeance. If he had taken a part 
Magie sow, and put her to a thorough-bred Berk¬ 
shire or Essex, he would probably have had 
pigs worth looking at. If there is one principle 
in breeding well established, it is that we should 
use none but thorough-bred males. And I 
doubt the policy of the Swine Breeders’Associa¬ 
tion offering prizes for cross-bred boars. A show 
of cross-bred pigs raised solely for the butcher 
would be very useful, but to offer prizes for 
them as a breeding stock is a mistake. 
Financially, the sho\y was not a success. 
There is probably not a town or county fair in 
the United States where the attendance is not 
larger than it was at this grand National Swine 
Show. The Association should hold its exhibi¬ 
tions in connection with the State Fair. 
The grand prize of one thousand dollars for 
the best show of swine, not less than ten nor 
more than twenty, was awarded to the Berk- 
sliires of Mr. Clay, of Kentucky. There was 
an imported Berkshire boar on exhibition that 
was said to have cost “one thousand guineas 
in England.” Our English friend Sotliam re¬ 
marked that he did not believe it.- “No Eng¬ 
lishman” he said, “ would have the conscience 
to ask such a price.” 
Lucern in California. 
Mr. Joseph Enscoe, of Antelope Ranche, 
Loyalton, California, writes: “ In the July num¬ 
ber of the American Agriculturist Walks and 
Talks says the Doctor has been to California, 
and that there is a weed there which is called 
clover. I suppose him to refer to Alfalfa, or Chili 
clover, and if so, I think an article in your val¬ 
uable paper, giving an account of its merits and 
demerits, mode of culture, etc., would be highly 
appreciated by your California readers. I un¬ 
derstand that a man below me has 400 acres of 
this weed. But little is known in regard to its 
cultivation. It is said to seek water even at the 
depth of forty feet. I have tried to obtain some 
published treatise on the culture of Alfalfa, or 
Chili clover, but have been unable to succeed. 
The seed is scarce. It is worth 25 cents per 
pound, down to 15 cents, according to quality.” 
Alfalfa, or Chili clover, is simply Lucern 
(Medicago sativa), a well-known plant cultivated 
in Europe, and to some extent in this country, 
for soiling purposes as well as for hay. You 
will find an article in regard to its value, cultiva¬ 
tion, etc., in the American Agricultural Annual 
for 1871. But it is not at all probable that this 
is the plant to which the Doctor referred as a 
“ weed.” Prof. Brewer, of New Haven, to whom 
we sent Mr. Enscoe’s letter, says they have a 
species of Lucern in California (Medicago den- 
ticulata) that is called “ Burr clover.” He is 
not aware that it is cultivated, but it is protected 
and cherished as a valuable forage, and has 
spread overmuch of the State. We think this 
is the plant to which the Doctor referred. 
Prof. Brewer, like all others who have had 
any experience in regard to it, speaks in the 
highest terms of Lucern as a forage plant. 
“ For several years,” he says, “ I have made dili¬ 
gent inquiries as to the best forage plant in the 
dry climates of Southern Europe, and the 
answer was uniformly, Lucern ( Medicago sati¬ 
va). In California the Chilian variety appears 
to do better than the European variety. But I 
want to see the experiment fairly tried between 
it and seed from the drier parts of southern 
Europe. Its cultivation is extending in Califor¬ 
nia as rapidly, perhaps, as is possible in a State 
where the great cry is for some never-failing for¬ 
age plant, that will stand the drouth, too close 
feeding, a too wet winter, and do all this without 
either care or cultivation. Unfortunately Alfalfa 
requires care in getting it started, and takes 
some years to come into its best value, and then 
needs a fence around it to prevent too close 
feeding in times of scarcity. The land needs 
to be deeply plowed and prepared with care, 
and during the first year the crop should not be 
fed very closely. When well rooted, it is ex¬ 
ceedingly tenacious of life, the tap-root running- 
very deep—I know not how deep, but I have 
seen roots twelve feet long, and I doubt not 
they sometimes run much deeper; and when 
well set it is very long-lived. European authori¬ 
ties speak of roots known to live 40 and even 
60 years. The herbage is coarse but very nu¬ 
tritious, and the amount produced very large, 
either as hay or pasture.” 
There can be no doubt of the great value of 
Lucern as a cultivated crop for soiling purposes. 
On rich land, kept free from weeds, it will yield 
four or five crops a year, and it is very nutri¬ 
tious, and all animals eat it readily. It will 
stand drouth better, probably, than any other 
forage plant. But it will not stand weeds. The 
point which is of most interest to our readers 
in California, Colorado, and other sections liable 
to long-continued drouths, is, whether Lucern 
(Medicago sativa) or the Burr clover ( Medicago 
denticulata) can be grown as we grow clover 
and grass, and whether this Burr clover is as 
nutritious as Lucern. We should like to hear 
from our California readers on these points. 
Winter Grazing. 
This term will strike the Eastern reader un¬ 
pleasantly, for it is associated in his mind with 
bare fields, stack-yards, frozen earth, and shiver¬ 
ing cattle. In the trans-Missouri country, we 
have a vast region where winter grazing is a 
fixed fact, without any of the disagreeable ac¬ 
companiments of the rainy and snowy climates 
east of the Mississippi. The eastern limit of 
this climate is about the 98th degree of longitude 
west from Greenwich, rvliich crosses the Union 
Pacific R.R. near Grand Island. Nearly all the 
country west of this line, extending from Texas 
far into the British Possessions, is one vast 
natural pasture the year round. The climate 
is not well understood by many of our Eastern 
people. It is entirely unlike that of the Atlan¬ 
tic and the Mississippi Valley States. Judged 
by our standards at the East, four fifths of this 
region would be uninhabitable on account of its 
elevation above the sea level. On this coast, 
seven thousand feet would be about the snow 
line. In the Rocky Mountains it is nearly twice 
that liiglit. They have good summer weather 
in its season at ten thousand feet above the sea 
level, and it is only the cool nights that make 
the raising of Indian corn impracticable. The 
terminal line of vegetation on the White Moun¬ 
tains is about 5,000 feet, on the Alleghanies 
5,500 feet. The grasses grow luxuriantly on the 
Rocky Mountains up to ten thousand feet, and 
we have seen a heavy growth of limber on 
Pike’s Peak, and on other summits, as far up as 
12,000 feet, and a smaller growth of ever¬ 
greens 15,000 feet high. In the North, South, 
and Middle Parks, eight to ten thousand feet 
above the sea level, the winters are less severe 
than in the Atlantic States. The rainfall over 
the greater part of this region is about twenty 
inches annually, and the larger part flails in the 
month of May. This gives the grasses a vigor¬ 
ous start, and in June they are fully matured. 
By the 1st of September these grasses have be¬ 
come a perfectly cured hay, as nutritious as any 1 
the Eastern farmer puts into his stacks or barns. 
The proof of its excellence is the fact that thou¬ 
sands of sheep and cattle feed upon it all win¬ 
ter, and come out in the spring ripe for the 
butcher. There is none of that pining which is 
inseparable from all out-door feeding in winter 
in the Eastern States. There are not only the 
“bunch” and “gramma” grasses, but the spe¬ 
cies are numerous, and every valley has its 
complement of them. This fact of abundant 
fodder for all graminivorous animals is as well 
established as any fact in our agriculture. It is 
this which makes this vast region so attractive 
to the stock-growex-. 
■-—» 4 O ->-♦ - 
Water-Rams. 
The frequent inquiries received about elevat¬ 
ing water by means of the water-ram induce us to 
describe the machine and illustrate its mode of 
working. In figure 1. we give a sectional view, 
showing the valves. It will be seen that the 
supply pipe, which should be somewhat more 
than twice the diameter of the discharge pipe, 
brings the water from a spring, which must be 
elevated at least four feet above the ram, and 
