1846. THE CULTIVATOR. 309 
RURAL CONVENIENCES. 
Berkshires, it results that some would be too small for 
certain purposes. They have been derived by various 
crosses of the Siamese and other small Asiatic varieties, 
with the old English Berkshire. From this mixed 
origin, it follows that the stock run larger or smaller in 
proportion as they have more or less of the blood of the 
small or large breeds from which they sprung: or they 
will vary in size according to the designs and skill of 
the breeder. But want of size cannot certainly, be ap¬ 
plied to all the Berkshires bred in the country. Nu¬ 
merous cases could be given where they have weighed 
from five to seven hundred pounds, dressed. We know 
of specimens of the breed now, which, if fatted, would 
weigh that, and if this is not size enough, we don’t 
know what would be had. But we may here mention, 
that when carried to the south and south-west, the stock 
seems to have, from the nature of the climate, a tenden¬ 
cy to degenerate in size and constitution. 
As to the objection that they have too much lean in 
proportion to the fat—we believe the breed in general 
is inclined to make flesh rather than fat; the Berkshire, 
in all his variations, seems to be characteristically a 
lean-meatcd hog, compared with most breeds; his car¬ 
case may he said to be made up as the Paddy wished 
his pig to be, “ with a strake o’ fat and astrake o’ lean.” 
This quality may be really objectionable to the packers, 
who wish to get from a hog the greatest possible 
amount of (< clear” pork; but it is not always a fault. 
For eating fresh or making bacon, it is far more pala¬ 
table than that which is clear fat. 
But this tendency to lean in the Berkshire hog is not 
without its advantages in other respects. It assists the 
constitutional hardiness of the animal, and gives him a 
muscular vigor which enables him to protect himself, 
or, as the expression is, to “cut his own fodder.” 
These qualities have proved in many cases of great ad¬ 
vantage in crossing the Berkshire with other breeds; 
particularly in giving “ form and comeliness,” and 
constitution, to the pot-bellied, blubbery stock, which 
were kept in some neighborhoods. 
But the lean-making tendency should not be carried 
to an extreme, as it has been, for instance, in the “ pump¬ 
kin buttocked” cattle, and as it may have been in some 
Berkshires. 
The objection of coarseness of flesh, as stated in the 
last place, we think applicable to a portion of the 
Berkshires, but by no means to the whole. The large, 
pendent eared, coarse bristled class, which some per¬ 
sons have so much admired for their enormous size, we 
believe are obnoxious to the charge. At least we 
know that several we have seen dressed, were faulty in 
this respect, and we have frequently heard the same 
complaint in relation to others But we believe this 
objection is confined mostly to the big 6 and 700 lbs. 
hogs; and such we do not think profitable, or suitable 
to be recommended. They neither fatten as readily, or 
make as good meat, as those of medium size. 
To sum up the matter, the very largest Berkshires, as 
just observed, are too coarse. Those which have the 
most of the Siamese blood, and such as, in breeders’ 
phraseology, have been “bred too fine,” have a tenden¬ 
cy to barrenness, and are too small except for killing 
before they are six months old. The medium sized, 
soft haired, thin skinned kind, such as when fattened at 
a year and a half old, will weigh an average of 250 to 
30*0 lbs., are easily kept, are thrifty and prolific, and 
make very good meat for eating fresh, or for ordinary 
family use. 
The fact is, that the wants of the community, in re¬ 
lation to pork, can be best supplied by two descriptions 
or classes of hogs; one for supplying the market with 
meat for eating fresh, and for affording fine, delicate 
meat for families; the other for making heavy, fat pork 
for barrelling, &c. This is so well understood in Eng¬ 
land, that separate premiums are there given for the 
two classes, at nearly all the shows. 
In our next we propose to make some farther re¬ 
marks on this part of the subject, and shall speak more 
particularly of the breeds best adapted to the purposes 
here mentioned. 
We lately had an opportunity of visiting, on the same 
day, the farms of two very intelligent cultivators, both 
remarkable for the ingenuity and skill displayed in the 
arrangement of the out-buildings, and in labor-saving 
machines. A short account may be interesting, and 
perhaps useful to our readers. 
One of these was the farm of Dr. Wm. D. Cook of 
Sodus, Wayne Co. N. Y., consisting of about two hun¬ 
dred acres of land. The buildings are a neat and sub¬ 
stantial house, workshop, root-cellar, wagon sheds of 
large size, large carriage-house and horse-barn, corn- 
crib, and a barn 60 feet by fifty, with additions. The 
house has a fine cellar, with a hard and smooth water- 
lime floor. The sides of the cellar are plastered five 
feet high with water-lime, totally excluding rats and 
water, and rendering the drain, formerly in use, entire¬ 
ly unnecessary. The cellar contains an excellent hot¬ 
air furnace, which, with one fire, not consuming more 
wood than an ordinary fire-place, warms five rooms and 
a hall. There is an oven immediately over the stove of 
the furnace, which bakes well whenever the furnace is 
in operation. 
The ruta-baga cellar is under the tool-house and work¬ 
shop; it will hold upwards of fifteen hundred bushels, 
and is filled by dumping the cart through a hole above, 
provided for that purpose. 
Attached to the barn is a building containing a fixed 
horse power. This building is thirty feet square, and 
contains an inclined tread wheel twenty-eight feet in 
diameter, which varies five feet from the plane of the 
horizon. The horses move it by their weight alone, 
and need no harness. It has been in operation five years, 
and in no part has given way, or yielded in the least. 
When disconnected with the threshing machine, it runs 
with the weight of a small boy. A brake stops it almost 
instantly in case of accident. With the building con¬ 
taining it and its appendages, it cost $300. The thresh¬ 
ing machine has an admirable elevator attached, which 
raises the straw ten feet higner than the machine, and 
drops it at a convenient spot, saves the work of four 
men needed by the ordinary method, and is so construc¬ 
ted that it is totally impossible to throw out a single 
grain with the straw. It is on the principle of a row 
of double rake heads revolving together, and working 
all in the same direction. 
A clover mill of Burrall’s construction, (costing $55) 
is connected with the horse power, which cleans from 
five to six bushels of clover seed per day. 
An excellent straw-cutter is also attached, and all the 
corn stalks are cut by horse power; and on being brined, 
the cattle eat them wholly. Nearly all the hay is chop¬ 
ped, and all the refuse hay left in mangers is thus con¬ 
verted into excellent food when mixed with grain or 
meal, and is all eaten. 
A part of the barn cellar is occupied as cow-stables, 
and a part with a continuation downwards orthe bay for 
hay and unthreshed grain. This bay is thus made so ca¬ 
pacious, that it has at one time held thirty tons of hay, 
under three hundred bushels of grain in the straw. 
The other farm visited was that of Joseph Watson 
of Clyde, N. Y.; a neat farm of 48 acres, lying on the 
Clyde river. It is well laid out in two lines of square 
lots, one on each side of a central lane. The out-build¬ 
ings nearly enclose a barnyard, which during summer, 
is kept nearly as clean as a gravel walk. The buildings 
are of cheap construction, but very neat from cleanli¬ 
ness and internal arrangement. The barn contains a 
fixed horse power, by a rope running on the outward 
ends of radiating arms, the whole cost being only a few 
dollars. This drives a two-horse thrashing machine, a 
grindstone, a circular saw for cutting wood and for slit¬ 
ting pickets, a small mill for grinding horse feed, and a 
small grater-mill for making cider for vinegar, apple¬ 
sauce, &c. All these contrivances are good, neat and 
cheap, and therefore well adapted to the wants of the 
small farmer. Two horses being needed on the farm, 
much work is thus done by them when their labor is 
1 not otherwise needed, and no additional expense of hir- 
