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JAN. 34 
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The Different Famlli.s, their Origin and 
Characteristics. 
COL. F. D. CURTIS. 
Among the breeds of while hogs the Yoik- 
shire, us a pure breed, seems to antedate ali 
others in England. The original Yorkshire 
hogs were undoubtedly the native breed of 
England and were of the same blood as those 
bred in other counties, with the differences 
which liberal or scanty feeding always make— 
and oarefulneaa in selection and breeding. 
The Yorkshire farmers seem to have been im¬ 
pressed early in the present century with the 
importance of improved pigs, and of careful 
breeding, in order to obtain them, it is proba¬ 
ble that they first used white Chinese pigs to 
cross upon the native. The effect of crossing 
these chunky and thick-fieshtd pigs upon the 
long-bodicd and coarse natives, would be to 
shorten the bodits, round the hams, widen the 
shoulders and make the cheeks plumper, as 
well as to shorten the noses. 
These characteristics are developed to a 
marked degree by these ancient pigs. Mr. 
Harris, iu his work on the pig, quoting British 
authority, says *• the first improvement of the 
old native Yorkshires was made by crossing 
them with the white Leicester.” He docs not 
tell us how the Leicester pigs originated, but 
they probably trace back to a direct Chinese 
croce, as this was the only breed of pigs in 
those days, which could make the changes 
which were the basis of the improved hogs. 
A variety of families of these improved 
white pigs seems to have been started in dif¬ 
ferent parts of the kingdom, very similar, if 
not almost identical, in points and appearance. 
At first, the large pigs seem to have taken the 
lead, which was natural, as the origiual hogs 
were coarse and Blow to mature, often reach¬ 
ing an excessive weight. Subsequently, a 
finer and smaller family wub established, 
called the Small Yorkshires, which could have 
been done by constantly selecting the chunky 
and finer-bodied pigs or by direct and positive 
crosses with the Chinese. A middle breed 
was established, later, which is the best, as it 
is neither large nor small, and possesses all of 
were exhibited at the State fairs by James 
Brodie & Son, of Jefferson Co., N. Y. These 
were the only ones which had the appearance 
of being well-bred, that we have seen for a 
number of years. The smaller families are 
bred quite extensively, and usually fill a num¬ 
ber of pens at the fairs, ranking in numbers 
and size about the same as the Berkshlres, but 
more admired by many on account of their 
color. 
The Yorkshire pigs, like all other thorough¬ 
breds, will improve any kind of native hogs, 
when crossed upon them, by producing more 
aptitude to fatten and also smaller bone, with 
less offal, and thereby an increased value. 
8uch crosses will mature earlier and make 
more pork, on the same amount of feed, than 
the natives. 
In connection with the above article on 
Yorkshire Bwine, we give herewith an engrav¬ 
ing of a celebrated English prize-winner of 
that breed, Mr. Spencer’s sow, “ Sister to 
Omega.” Redrawn from the Ag’l Gazette. 
is necessary, in justice to myself and the 
Husbandman from which you copied the arti¬ 
cle, to make a plain statement of facts:— 
Two years ago last summer Mr, D. W. Payne, 
of this place, spent several hundred dollars in 
experimenting with sugar beets. During bis 
experiments I became very much interested. 
The next spring I obtained from the Agricul¬ 
tural Department at Washiugton some seed 
of the Early Amber cane, which I planted 
with great care on the 3rd of June—I thiDk 
after my field corn was up. It was a good 
season for corn, and the cane made a splendid 
growth and ripened its seeds before frost. 
With the assistance of Mr. Payne I constructed 
a rude crusher, and hired a one-mule tread 
power to extract thejuiee. I boiled itdowu after 
the proper defecation, and succeeded at four 
different times in obtaining a good article of 
sirup, in two instances after the cane had been 
severely frozen. I exhibited these samples 
at our local fair and Farmers’ Club, makiug a 
plain statement of the facts to our Club. It pro¬ 
duced quite a desire among the members 
to try it themselves. Accordingly, when 
spring earne, having about 50 pounds of seed, 
] donated it to the Club, each member tak¬ 
ing what he wanted. Gen Le Due, also very 
kindly sent rue several packages which I dis¬ 
tributed. The last season being very dry, 
the cane did not grow or do uearly as well as 
it did with me the preceding year, very 
little of it getting ripe. Many of the farmers 
who planted it, placed the seed too deep in the 
HOG CHOLERA, 
The appearance of hog cholera in this neigh¬ 
borhood within the last month reminds me of 
the efforts the Government haB made to investi¬ 
gate the nature, causes and treatment of this 
malady. I have wondered if all over the 
Union there is as much ignorance and lack of 
interest about these investigations as among 
the farmers of this section. Here in Illinois 
every sick hog is supposBcd to have the chol¬ 
era. Thousands of hogs arc yearly lost owing 
to this popular error. My own experience is 
an illustration of this. For three years during 
ground or too shallow, and others planted it 
on very dry ground or failed to “ firm” it in 
sufficiently to sprout it, 
sell, nor lie misled by glowing advertisements 
of some wonderful now breeds. Give the fowls 
you have the care and attention you would the 
uew kinds, and you will find less difference in 
breeds for profitableness than most people 
suppose. If you desire to give new breeds a 
trial, ‘‘go slow,” cling to what you have until 
the newer ones prove to be more desirable, 
even if you are called “ old fogy" for so doing. 
Onondaga Co., N. Y. 
Preserving Eggs. —Several years ago I 
came across an article in some paper, stating 
that a factor) had just been started at Passau, 
Bavaria, for this purpose. The eggs were first 
dried, then ground to a fine meal, and this put 
up in tin cans for use, the same as wo do with 
fruits and vegetables. If this method of pre¬ 
serving eggs proved successful in Bavaria, it 
would be well worthy of adoption in America, 
especially in the Western and Southern States, 
where eggs are so cheap and it is so difficult to 
find fair sale for them. Thus prepared, an 
almost unlimited market may be insured for 
ah our surplus, and a high price. Not long 
since. I 6aw a statement in an English paper, 
that the tounding number of 870 . 000.000 eggs 
had beeu imported from Fiance into Great 
Britain the preceding year, valued at .£2,650,- 
000—say about $13,000,000 of our tnouey. I 
do not know how true the above statement is, 
but if it states a fact, the United States 
ought and might, if we take the proper means 
to do so, profitably share in this importa¬ 
tion. A. B. A. 
-- 
! Pekin Ducks. —Take it all in all, I do not 
consider the above-named ducks as profitable 
as the smaller breeds. A near neighbor keeps 
them, so I have had a good chance to watch 
them, and also to make some inquiries in re¬ 
gard to them, and with the same care that the 
smaller breed of ducks receive, they scarcely 
give any profit, while the others do well. The 
Pekin ducks are beautiful water-fowls, but I 
do not believe they are profitable to keep, ex¬ 
cept as fancy fowls, aud if anyone who does 
not breed them for sale at fancy prices has 
fouud them otherwise, I should be pleased to 
hear lrom him through the Rural, f. u. d. 
£touu-|)fr&. 
iriratifir autr Useful. 
a crusher. On its arrival, I superintended the 
placing of it. as well as the construction of the 
pans, arches and everything else connected 
with it. From the time the first stalk of 
cane went into the mill, until the last was 
ground and finished, I was away but three 
days, I think, aud on those days! was invited 
by the Chemung Co. Fair and the Elmira Far¬ 
mers’ Club to their place to show them how to 
work np some cane and corn-stalks they had. 
I entirely neglected my farm affairs, and for 
two weeks worked night and day,often going 
home at two or three o’clock in the morning. 
I ordered chemicals from Prof. Stewart and 
the Clough Refining Co. But they failing to 
arrive at the first of our working, I exper¬ 
imented with those of my own manufacture. 
The chemicals purchased were placed In the 
tanks by myself alone. So much for my 
personal srupei vision. 
As regards Mr. H. B’s statement that, “ the 
Corning Farmers’ Club were surprised to 
find my first report coming indirectly through 
the Rural, 1 will say that the sugar asso¬ 
ciation bad no meeting from the time we com¬ 
menced work, up to the day in which the 
members met at the Farmers' Cluh, and dur¬ 
ing an intermission they gave in the measure¬ 
ments of their grounds, etc., w hich I placed on 
record, and Mr. Bertram forwarded the same 
for your publication, together with a state¬ 
ment that for $70 a crusher and pans suitable 
for working up the cane of a neighborhood, 
can be obtaiued. Our experiments the past 
season fully provo that a crusher of ample 
power and suitable pans for working 10 acres 
cannot be obtained for loss than $150,—and 
I would much prefer to have the crusher alone 
cost that. At some future time I will try and 
give the readers of the Rural a statement of 
the best aud simplest method I know of 
for working np Amber cane and corn-stalks. 
During my visit t-o the Elmira Farmers’ Club, 
President Hoffman called upou me to tell 
them something about what we were doiug iu 
Corning iu the sugar industry. The few sim¬ 
ple statements which I made to them from 
memory, / think fall very short of the com¬ 
plete report of the. secretary of a sugar associa¬ 
tion that has accomplished as much as ours. 
C. J Reynolds. 
I certify that the above is a true statement 
aud that Mr. C. J. Reynolds is a gentleman of 
honor and integrity. H. D. Smith. 
President of Corning Sugar Association. 
[We publish the above with pleasure, in 
justice to Mr. Reynolds whose statements, 
from what we know of his character, 
would have been fully credited witbou' the 
certificate which he has chosen to append to 
his communication. Should our friend Mr. 
Bertram entertain different views, he will 
agree with us that our columns are not a 
suitable place to present them Eds ] 
MR. SPENCER 8 PRIZE SOW, “SISTER TO OMEGA.”—FIG. 30. 
which are now bred as much in other coun¬ 
ties as in Yorkshire or in Cumberland, if not 
more. There is but little waste in these pigs, 
as the following standard of characteristics 
indicates. 
The principal points are:—“A short, up¬ 
turned noses lower jaws dished; prick ears, 
slightly inclined forwards; heavy jowls; the 
neck somcwhatloDg and well padded with flesh, 
making the head appear to be filing at a lower 
level than tbe shoulders, which should be wide 
apart and well joined to hoop-like ribs; the 
loin wide ; the hind quarters long and square, 
with meat down to the hocks; the tail thin 
and set high; the legs short and placed well 
apart, the whole being covered with a coat 
of fine hair " This is the Euglish standard, as 
taken from the London Live Stock Journal of 
recent date. 
<£,While a good coat of hair is the standard, 
many of these pigs •* run back’ to tbe old 
Chinese type, and have bodies nearly naked, 
or with tbin and scattered coats. This is one r 
of the objections to them, as in summer they 
are liable to blister when exposed to the hot 
sun. and to get scabby in winter on account 
of the cold. It is a singular fact that these 
white hogs, when crossed upon either Essex 
or Berkshire, will almost invariably produce 
pigs with dark spots on tbe skin, tbe hair 
being entirely white; but these pigs bred to¬ 
gether will become spotted or mixed in color. 
The large Yorkshires are not numerous in 
America. A few years ago fine specimens 
was some other ailment. Then the greed for 
making money out of their discovery has con¬ 
firmed their belief in its efficacy, or silenced 
any doubts raised by its failure iu hundreds of 
other cases. The majority of those who sell 
such recipes or nostrums, however, are arrant 
swindlers with no real faith in their own medi¬ 
caments, but an unbounded belief in the gulli¬ 
bility of the rural population—a belief whieb 
their success year after year shows to have 
some foundation. Farmers trustiug in such 
worthless “cures,”are apt to neglect other pre¬ 
cautions and lose their hogs. 
A. C. Williams, M.D. 
Industrial &<rrietus. 
THE CORNING (N. Y.) CANE SUGAR AS¬ 
SOCIATION. 
Mr. Reynold's Reply lo Hector Ilertram. 
In the Rural of Dec. 20th there appears an 
article over the signature of Hector Bertram, 
which contains a number of misstatements. 
At the time I did not consider them worthy 
of a reply and should not make one now were 
it not for the fact that I am In correspondence 
with a number of your readers (strangers to 
me) for the further advancement of the sugar 
industry, and as the said IL B., for some rea¬ 
son unknown to me, continues to vent his 
moliGa in Aihur inurnulfl I fp.^1 IlflW flint, it. 
ADULTERATED CLOTHING. 
UCb 1 ' i^uauupn u* uvtu. 
The Yorkshires are thick-meated and easy 
to keep. They are more objectionable than 
some other breeds on account of the large 
amount of lut In proportion to the lean, and 
on this account are not suited for bacon, and 
the hams require close trimming or there will 
be a considerable waste of fat. Their clear 
white color, and thin, delicate skins make them 
an attractive breedt while the fine grain of 
reuruary, iuaicu auu ujjiji, a iubi bcvciiu pigs 
from four to eix months old by a disease my 
neighbors and myself supposed to be cholera. 
When one thinks thi6 plague is destroying his 
hogs there are a folding of the hands and a 
feeling of helplessness that lead one to think 
the trouble of investigation useless and to make 
no effort to avert the calamity; whereas by 
such an effort, all, or at least a part of the 
infected animals might be saved. When oaee 
IU bUC lull) iivu v > v‘ | • j —o 
the Club, it was found that among the mem¬ 
bers there were about two acres to be worked 
up. Ten of tbe gentlemen joined with myself 
and formed an association for the purpose of 
experimenting and working up our cane. Mr. 
IL D. Smith, the former president of oar 
Club, was chosen president of the company 
and your humble servant seoretary and 
treaanrer. I sent at one* to C incinn ati for 
PROFESSOR F. H. STOREH. 
A good deal of nonsense, mixed with some 
grains of truth, is writteu from time to time by 
the professed philanthropists in respect to the 
adulteration of food. Of tbe adulteration of 
clothiDg, on the other hand, we hear compar¬ 
atively little, though In all probability this 
subject is of paramount importance. Tbe 
abundance and cheapness of cotton in this 
country, the familiarity of our manufacturers 
with the modes of workiug it, and, above all, 
the enormous demaud for cheap and tasteful 
clothing on the part of the great American 
people, have led to the introduction of this less 
valuable fiber into ordinary ••woolen" goods 
to an extent which but a few years since would 
have been almost inconceivable. Not only are 
so-called woolen goods prepared by weaving 
together mixtures of cotton and wool, rag- 
wool, and shoddy, in divers ways and in vary¬ 
ing proportions ; not only is the dust of wool 
(called‘flocks”) shrunk iu to woolen goods, 
eveD those of fairly good quality, to make 
them heavier and more compact; but by re¬ 
sorting to certain styles of goods and methods 
of weaving, so that the cloth shall be appro¬ 
priately thickened In riba or ridges, it has even 
been found possible to make clothes salable for 
men’s winter wear out of nothlug but cotton. 
Some samples of heavy cloths, which at first 
sight look as if they were certainly woolen and 
as if they were able to keep a man warm, and 
which really are thick and strong, have been 
found not to give-off in burning any trace of 
the “ burnt-wool " smell, with which everyone 
is familiar. Some years since, certain goods 
tor gentlemen’s wear were fashionable, which 
consisted of gray woolen with occasional gol¬ 
den threads of silk between. Bnt of late, both 
the silk threads and the woolen parts as well, 
have been replaced with a really good imita¬ 
tion consisting of nothing but cotton. These 
debased goods are sold at low rates, and many 
nf th«m am lit ironJ taste and of seemlv ao- 
their flesh makes it very palatable. The Amer¬ 
ican market does not now demand the thick, 
heavy pork which used to be so popular, but 
a thinner and leaner sort. On this account, 
the Yoikshire pigs and their crosses will not 
be so much bred, notwithstanding their early 
maturity and remarkable uptitude to fatten. 
The same criticism will apply to all similar 
breeds. 
In England the name, Yorkshire, has been 
supplemented by a number of others, and these 
the Dames of different families, as York- 
Cumberland, Cumberland, and Lancashire, 
another name for Manchester; quite recently 
the general and more appropriate name. Small 
White breed, has been substituted for the va¬ 
rious titles given to the smaller white sorts, 
my doubts were aroused as to the nature of 
the malady attacking my hogs, a little invest¬ 
igation soon proved that it was not cholera. 
Having ascertained the real nature of the dis¬ 
ease. when the pigs began to ail 1 was able to 
treat them so as to save them all. Just in the 
same way thousands of hogs that might easily 
be saved, are yearly lost through ignorance 
and misconception. 
Another fruitful source of loss lies in the be¬ 
lief of many in remedies for hog cholera. The 
venders of these, though generally frauds who 
kuowingly impose on the credulity of their 
dupes, are occasionally themselves deceived. 
A few of them may have succeeded in curing 
their hogs with the nostrums, from what they 
supposed to be cholera, but which in reality 
