10 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Jantjaht, 
Ing which will tend to reduce to some sort of order and 
bj stem what has been hitherto a haphazard and altoge¬ 
ther Irregular business. 
The question “Whatconstitutes thorough-bred swine ?” 
has been settled; and had the Convention achieved 
nothing beyond this, its work would have been worth all 
the cost. The committee appointed to report upon this 
question decided that “ only such breeds should rank as 
thorough-bred as are recognized in authentic history as 
of sufficient remote origin, when bred in a line, to result 
in the establishment of a fixed type, capable of duplicat¬ 
ing themselves with uniformity. The committee also 
recommended that the leading breeders of pure-bred 
swine form breeders’ clubs, for the purpose of establish¬ 
ing a herd registry, after the plan adopted by breeders of 
thorough-bred cattle, in order to secure greater uniformity, 
and to perfect as soon as possible the various breeds.” 
This decision rules out Poland-China, Chester Whites, 
Improved Cheshires, and some other so-called breeds, 
which must undergo further close breeding and careful 
management before they can be entitled to the distinction 
of thorough-bred. 
A scale of points was also adopted for the guidance of 
Judges at fairs in making awards. They are as follows: 
Perfection, scale 100 points, to be divided as follows: 
Back, 10; long ribs, 8; short ribs, 7; shoulder, 8; ham, 
12; length of body, 6; flank, 6; twist. 6; snout, 4 ; jowl, 
S; face, 3; ear, 2; neck, 4; belly, 4; skin, 5; hair, 3; 
bone, 3; legs, 3; feet, 2; tail, 1. 
The committee appointed to report on what is the 
most profitable hog for the raiser, packer, and consumer 
did so as follows; “ The hog must have a small, short 
head, henvy jowl, and thick, short neck; ear small and 
thin, and tolerably erect, not objectionable if it droops 
slightly forward; must be straight from neck back to 
flank; must let well down to the knees in brisket; of 
good length from head to tail; broad on the back ; ribs 
rather barrel-shaped; must be slightly rounded and 
curved in the back from the shoulder to the setting on of 
the tail; tail small; long in the ham from hock to letting 
off at loin ; shoulder not too large, only large enough to 
give symmetry to the animal; ham broad and full; hair 
smooth and evenly set on; skin soft and elastic to the 
touch; legs short and small, and well set under; broad 
between the legs ; good depth between bottom and top 
of hog; pleasant and quiet disposition; should not 
weigh, as a general rule, more than 300 or 400 lbs. gross 
at twelve to eighteen months, according to keep; color 
may be black or white, or a mixture of the two. The 
hog should measure as many feet from top of head to 
setting on of tail as he does around the body; and as 
many inches round the leg below the knee as he does 
feet in length and around the body; and the depth of 
body will be four fifths of his hight.” 
When the value of the hog crop of this country is con¬ 
sidered, the importance of the work accomplished will 
t>c better realized; and the sooner pork-raisers go to work 
to carry out the ideas developed, and bring their hogs up 
to the required standard, the sooner will this great in¬ 
terest attain full and profitable success. 
The Shorthorn Convention. 
The Convention of Shorthorn breeders of America met 
at Indianapolis on November 27th. It was attended by 
many of the principal breeders of the United States and 
Canada. It resulted in the formation of the American 
Association of Breeders of Shorthorns; of which any 
breeder of these cattle, either in this country or Canada, 
may become a member on payment of $2; also of a 
Board of Directors, for the purpose of carrying into exe¬ 
cution the purposes of the association, one of the chief 
of which is the protection of the public against frauds 
in pedigrees, and the exposure of parties who may be 
guilty of the same ; and further, in the adoption of a set of 
regulations for the better management of the Herd-Book, 
and the correction of errors and frauds which may have 
occurred therein heretofore. The officers of the Associa¬ 
tion are as follows: President —Dr. A. C. Stevenson, of 
Indiana. Vice-Presidents— 1st. Win. Warfield, of Ken¬ 
tucky; 2d. Hon. David Christie, of Ontario. Secretary — 
B. H. Campbell, Batavia, Ill. Treasurer —John G. Dun. 
of Ohio. Directors— R. R. Seymour, Chillicothe, Ohio; 
W. R. Duncan, of Towanda. Illinois ; Edward G. Bedford, 
of Paris. Kentucky; Dr. Manly Miles, Lansing, Michi¬ 
gan; George Murray, Racine, Wisconsin; Claude Mat¬ 
thews, Indiana; Samuel Campbell, N. Y. Mills, New 
York; John H. Bacon, Worthington, Iowa; C. T. Qtiis- 
senberry, Missouri; Charles E. Coffin, Maryland ; .Tosiah 
Fogg, Massachusetts; Stephen White, Ontario; M. II. 
Cochrane, Quebec; William S. King. Minnesota; Mark 
S. Cockrill, Tennessee; George W. Glick, Atchison, 
Kansas: E. L. Emery, Omaha, Nebraska; Warren Per- 
clval, Maine ; D. S. Pratt, Vermont. 
The rules for the future management of the Herd-Book 
adopted are here given, viz.: 
Resolved, That for the better management of the Amer¬ 
ican Herd-Book in the future the Committee beg leave to 
make the following recommendations : 
Resolved , That in the record, the name of both breeder 
and owner shall be given, together with the date of birth 
and the color of the animal. 
Resolved , That the ancestors of animals shall be traeed 
on botli sides to imported animals or to those heretofore 
named in the American Herd-Book, with correct pedi¬ 
grees, before they can be entitled to registry. 
Resolved , Family names should be.oi.g to breeders first 
claiming that name in some agricultural paper of the 
United States, or in the American Herd-Book. 
Resolved , That the person under whose direction the 
animals are coupled should be recognized as the breeder 
of their produce. 
Resolved , That a committee shall be appointed by the 
President and Directors of this Association, whose duty 
it shall be to examine all pedigrees claimed by any mem¬ 
ber of this Association as errors and forgeries, and when 
decided to be wrong, that the fact be published in a 
chapter of errors, to be addeuded to each succeeding vol¬ 
ume of the Herd-Book. 
Resolved , That Lewis F. Allen be requested to continue 
the publication of the American Shorthorn Herd-Book, 
in accordance with the above recommendations. 
It was also 
Resolved , That in the estimation of this Convention, it 
is not only necessary in successfully breeding Shorthorn 
cattle that we should secure animals of fine form, pedi¬ 
gree, etc., but that they should be well fed and cared for. 
At the same time we look upon the practice of keeping 
up cattle without exercise, and feeding them to their ut¬ 
most capacity, for show purposes, or sale, as injurious to 
their health and usefulness as breeders. 
The following definition of the grades of stock, intro 
duced by Prof. Miles, of the Michigan Agricultural Col¬ 
lege, was adopted by the Convention: Pure-bred, full- 
bred, thorough-bred, ns animals of a distinct and well- 
defined breed, without any admixture of other blood. 
Cross-bred, animals produced by breeding together dis¬ 
tinct breeds. Grades, as the product between a pure¬ 
bred and a “ native.” High grades, an animal of mixed 
blood, in which the blood of a pure breed largely pre¬ 
dominates. 
Some formal votes of thanks and mutunl congratula¬ 
tions were then indulged in, and the Convention ad¬ 
journed. 
After the adjournment of the Convention, the President 
and Board of Directors, as provided by the constitution, 
held a meeting and appointed W. R. Duncan, of Wiscon¬ 
sin ; Robert G. Dun, Ohio; the Hon. David Christie, 
Canada: Thos. E. Talbott, Missouri, and James G. Ken¬ 
nedy, Kentucky, a committee to investigate pedigrees. 
On motion, the Board fixed the first Wednesday in De¬ 
cember, 1874, as the time, and Cincinnati, Ohio, ns the 
place, for holding the next National Convention of Short¬ 
horn Breeders. 
Want of space forbids any lengthened remarks on the 
foregoing report, but we can not avoid congratulating 
both the breeders, and the publisher of the Herd-Book, 
on the harmonious result of this Convention and of the 
restoration of perfect confidence between them. That 
serious and well-founded complaints have been made of 
erroneous or fraudulent entries is admitted, and the ex¬ 
istence of such complaints reduced in a measure the con¬ 
fidence of the public in the authority of the Herd-Book 
generally. That this difficulty will now be removed, the 
records brought above suspicion, and error and fraud 
hereafter prevented, so far as a watchful committee deep¬ 
ly interested to secure these results can accomplish it, are 
matters for congratulation. At the same time we can not 
ignore the fact that there will be at least some work cut 
ont for the next Convention, for what has now been done 
is to some extent imperfect, and doubtless more re¬ 
modeling will be necessary before perfection is reached. 
The Late Eev. J. Knox. 
The Rev. Jeremiah Knox, long so prominent as a hor¬ 
ticulturist, died at his residence at Pittsburgh on Nov. 
11th, last. Mr. Knox was born at Cadiz, Ohio. The 
son of a minister, he entered the ministry himself, and 
at the early age of eighteen was located at Pittsburgh as 
a preacher of the Methodist denomination, and long 
did useful work among the laboring population of that 
busy city. One of the pioneers in the cultivation of small 
fruits, he became at length the most celebrated of his 
time. Others, following in his footsteps, may have had 
more acres under cultivation, but none could have de¬ 
voted themselves more heartily to the work. It is to the 
labors of Mr. Knox that we arc largely indebted for the 
general taste for fruit-growing. He showed by his own 
experience that good cultivation of good varieties was 
the true road to success. Horticulturally, Mr. Knox 
will be remembered as the warm advocate of the 
Concord as the “grape for the million,” and for his suc¬ 
cess with the Jucunda Strawberry, which, until he 
ascertained its true name, he called “700." About two 
years ago he retired from active participation in business, 
and was quietly enjoying the fruits of his labors when a 
distbse of the heart suddenly terminated his useful career. 
Up to the day of his death he enjoyed perfect health, and 
though 57 years of age his appearance was that of a much 
younger man. To us, who had known Mr. Knox so long 
and so well, his death comes as a personal bereavement, 
and horticulturists generally will miss bis genial pres¬ 
ence from their gatherings. Having rare gifts as a speaker, 
and speaking from the results of experience, he always 
commanded the respect of his hearers. 
Horace Greeley. 
The eulogy of Horace Greeley has been spoken, not 
only by press and pulpit, but in every household in tho 
land, and while we will not at this late day give even a 
sketch of his remarkable career, we can not let the occa¬ 
sion pass without a brief tribute. While the name of Horace 
Greeley was, perhaps, oftener spoken all over the country 
than that of any other individual, it is to that class which 
reads the Agriculturist —farmers and those in rural life— 
that his death comes nearer than to any other. The son 
of a poor farmer, and his early life passed in a struggle 
upon the poorest of farms, the experiences of his youth 
were such as would have disgusted most persons with 
agriculture, but to Greeley they only showed how much 
the farmer's lot needed improvement, and in after-life his 
thoughts constantly reverted to the occupation in which 
he was born. When the Tribune became an influence, 
a large share of that influence was turned directly upon 
agriculture, and not only through its columns, but in nu¬ 
merous addresses, was he constantly appealing to the 
agricultural community. In later years he became an 
amatenr farmer, and he one day in a week sought 
recreation in that which most regard as labor. The 
work “What I Know of Fanning,” which has been the 
theme of some merrim -nt, was not Intended as a farmer’s 
hand-book, but it is full of useful suggestions. It was 
not possible for one of Mr. Greeley’s powers of observat ioa 
and activity of mind to tell what he knew of farming, or 
of any other subject to which lie had given thought, with¬ 
out saying many things that would be useful to others. 
His rank as an agricultural writer will be measured by 
this work. The Weekly Tribune was the first paper of 
its kind to devote a considerable portion of its space to 
agricultural matters, an example which has been followed 
by other papers. In our last interview with Mr. Greeley, 
the conversation turned upon the principal agricultural 
writers of the day, and it was surprising to see how just 
an estimate he had formed of them. 
Mr. Greeley was such a many-sided man that journal¬ 
ists, philanthropists, politicians, political economists, 
advocates of temperance, and others, each claim him as 
chiefest among them. While agriculturists will not ac¬ 
cord him a high place as a leader, they will claim him as 
theirs by birth, and by a life-long sympathy manifested 
In various useful forms. Mr. Greeley’s life may serve as 
an encouragement to every farmer’s boy in the land ; 
born as poor as the poorest of them, he unaided reached 
such a position that when death removed him from it a 
whole nation mourned. He was not very rich, lie was not 
Fresident, but he was better than these—he was kind, 
charitable, industrious, working for the general good 
rather than personal advancement, with sympathies for 
the humble and the oppressed, and with a courage that 
dared speak againEt whatever seemed to him to be 
wrong. These qualities gave him the affections of the 
people, and when he was buried, President, Governors, 
and those high in authority followed him to the grave ; 
but still more than this, “ the common people,” the poor 
and lowly, thronged the streets in dense masses, for the 
distance of five miles, to pay the last tribute to him whom 
in life they familiarly called “Honest old Horace.” 
Grade or Cross-bred Pigs.— “L. L. P.” 
Ontario Co., N. Y., writes: “ I have been breed¬ 
ing Chester White pigs, but they do not please 
me. I have also some Jefferson Co., or Chesh¬ 
ire pigs, but they are not satisfactory. The 
tendency of this breed, so far as my observation 
goes, is to smallness and weakness of bone. 
How would it do to cross them with the Essex ?" 
— If the sows are healthy, of good size and vig¬ 
orous constitution, a cross with a pure-bred 
Essex would give you fine pigs. There is 
much complaint of the Cheshires (not Chester 
Whites) degenerating. In-and-in breeding and 
