THE CULTIVATOR, 
3°2 
Oct. 
severe pain in the breast, at the village post-office, walked calmly 
to his house with a few friends, and in two hours he had as calmly 
breathed his last. 
Such, gentlemen, were *he last hours of Silas Wright ! The 
same calmness, Which distinguished him throughout all the changes 
of his life, accompanied him at its close. From the first moment of 
his attack he appeared to understand its fatal character, and he sub¬ 
mitted to it without a struggle or a murmur. 
In him perished one of the purest models of a citizen and a states¬ 
man the country contained. He may be said, indeed, to have been 
an impersonation of the true character of her institutions. In the 
traditions and legends of early ages, before their eras of legitimate 
history, their periods are marked by the lines and actions, of distin¬ 
guished parsonages invested with the ruling characteristics of the 
communities, of which they were intended to be the types. The 
spirit of the political system is thus illustrated by the individual ex¬ 
ample. Mr. Wright might have been copied, without any color¬ 
ing of the imagination, as an exemplification of the genius of ours— 
of what it is and what it ought to be—of its simplicity, its purity 
and its strength. Plain and unostentatious in his manners, serene 
amid all the agitations of life, unambitious of wealth or of honors, 
singularly courteous and kind in his intercouse with others ; equally 
dignified, whether dealing with the most complex questions of public 
policy in the Senate Chamber, or when tilling, with Roman sim¬ 
plicity, his own field ; he recalled to mind those classical examples 
of disinterested pariotism and virtue, which gave lustre to the times 
in which they existed, and which have come down to us conse¬ 
crated by the memomory of ages. 
The close of his life was in harmony with its whole course. It 
was appropriate that the last labors of his hands should have been 
performed with the implements of husbandry, and that the last 
effort of his mind should have been given to the cause of agriculture 
■—a pursuit, to which the great masses his countrymen are devoted, 
and on which the purity of the body politic and the durability of our 
social system pre-eminently depend. 
With these few remarks, which I could not forbear to make, and 
for which I trust the occasion will furnish my apology, I proceed 
to read the Anddress. 
[For the Address, see another part of this paper.] 
At the conclusion of the reading, the Hon. John A. 
King, of Queens county, arose and delivered a beau¬ 
tiful and touching eulogium upon the character of Mr. 
Wright, and the loss which the Society, the State, 
and the country at large experienced in his death, 
concluding with the following resolution :— 
Resolved. That the eloquent Address which has just been read, 
be printed ; and that the President be requested to ask the permis¬ 
sion of Mrs. Wright to retain the original draft of the Address, to 
be placed in the archives of the ■Society ; and to express to her at 
the same time, the deep sympathy and regret which is felt by all 
its members for the irreparable loss which has so suddenly over¬ 
whelmed herself and the State, in a common grief. 
This resolution was seconded by Lewis F. Allen, 
Esq., of Erie county, who adverted in glowing lan¬ 
guage to the merits of the Address, in the course of 
which he characterized it as one that would be regard¬ 
ed and appealed to by the agricultural interests as a 
model of excellence and the richest legacy which could 
be bequeathed to them. Mr. Allen concluded his re¬ 
marks by submitting the following additional resolu¬ 
tions : 
Resolved , That in the death of Silas Wright, late Governor of 
this State, the New-York State Agricultural Society have lost a 
friend, benefactor, an honored and useful member, and the com¬ 
munity an illustrious example of republican simplicity in private, 
as well as of inflexible honesty, nnd great capacity in public life. 
Resolved , That a committee of this society, be appointed by the 
President thereof, to prepare a brief memoir illustrative of his 
character, h's virtues, and his eminent public services, for publica¬ 
tion with the address delivered on this occasion in the Transactions 
for the year 1847—a duty the more gratefully performed, as the 
last public act of his life was one of beneficence to the farmers of 
his country. 
The president then put the question upon the seve¬ 
ral resolutions, and they were adopted by acclamation. 
On motion it was likewise resolved that copies of 
the remarks of Gen. Dix, Mr. King, and Mr. Allen, 
be solicited from the speakers, and that they be pub¬ 
lished in connection with the address, by the Society, 
and entered upon its minutes. 
The reports of the several committees were then 
read, and the premiums awarded to the successful 
competitors. 
It was our intention to have published this month, a 
full report of the premiums awarded / but unfortunate¬ 
ly, we have not been able to procure it, and our read¬ 
ers must therefore wait till next month for it. 
BERKSHIRE SWINE. 
Messrs. Editors. —A short account of our unsuc¬ 
cessful efforts with the Berkshire swine in this section 
of country, may be interesting to some of the nume¬ 
rous readers of the Cultivator. They were pretty ex¬ 
tensively introduced into this part of the country. I 
think, according to your description of the different 
sizes, that those brought here were principally the me¬ 
dium size, with “ soft hair, thin skin,” &c.; and on the 
whole were the most beautiful animals of their species 
I ever beheld. We obtained them at very moderate 
prices, compared with what was paid for them in the 
north; this made our losses light in this respect. They 
at first bid fair to do well; all appeared pleased with 
them, and anxious to obtain them ; even some of our 
anti-book farmers, who had heretofore opposed all in¬ 
novations of the kind, were forced to acknowledge that 
there “ might be something in breeds after all.” Many 
of us believed that we had hit upon a short cut to per¬ 
fection in the improvement of our breed of swine— 
that for the future we had nothing to do but receive 
the profits arising from the increased value of our im¬ 
proved stock ; but we were soon “ led into a truer way 
of thinking.” Degenerate they would and did, in spite 
of all we could do. I was extremely loath to give 
them up, they were so beautiful, and continued so long 
as I kept them sufficiently prolific. I gave them extra 
feed and attention, and I continued my efforts several 
years, hoping, if anything depended on the climate, 
that after becoming acclimated they would do better ; 
but all my efforts proved unavailing, and I was forced 
to give them up. 
I will particularize one instance : In the fall of 1845 
I fattened eighty hogs, all pretty deeply mixed with 
the Berkshire, some of'them full blood; they were from 
twelve to eighteen months old when fattened. The 
winter previous they were fed on corn, and although 
not lavishly fed, yet their keeping might be considered 
good. They were never poor—always plump and 
fleshy. In the spring they looked well, and were con¬ 
sidered by all who saw them a pretty lot of small hogs. 
They run on well during the summer—had no grain, 
but an abundance of clover. In the fall I fed them 
about 2| months with corn—the principal part of the 
time as much as they Would eat.' The average weight, 
when I sold them, was 120 lbs. This I suppose you 
would call a small business. 
Such is my experience, and I find it accords pretty 
nearly with the experience of all with whom I have 
conversed on the subject. It may be proper to state 
that this was the heaviest failure I ever experienced. 
Previous to this they had done a little better. After 
this I disposed of them as soon as possible. 
The principal objection to the Berkshires in this vi¬ 
cinity, is their size. Could we have realized the weights 
complained of by your correspondent in the February 
number, we should have been fully satisfied. The most 
desirable weights with us are from 200 to 250 lbs. 
Our pork is made into bacon, either by the farmers at 
home, or sold to speculators, who drive it to market 
for that purpose. In either case the above weights are 
preferred as making the most saleable article ; but es¬ 
pecially in the latter case, as being the best travellers. 
So you will perceive that the breed of swine that 
suits us best, is such as will, at from twelve to eigh¬ 
teen months old, attain these weights with the least 
expenditure of food. The question now is, how will 
this failure affect us ? Shall we become discouraged 
and cease our efforts, or shall we endeavor to profit by 
the past, and persevere until we gain the desired ob¬ 
ject ? I hope the latter course will be adopted. J. W. 
Mt . Clinton , Fa., 1847. 
