332 WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY . 
be called the small large breed. Their short, wide spread legs, 
with round, deep bodies, give them when alive the appearance of 
a small hog, but when on the scales, they show their real 
size and weight, averaging, with proper feed, from 350 to 400 
pounds dead weight, at sixteen months of age. We have by far 
too many swine in our state that can be very properly classed as 
the large small breed, with large coarse heads and legs, bodies that 
appear long from their lankness, with backs arched like the bow 
in the heavens, with a sure covenant with their owners that they 
will be disappointed at their death. To cross on such stock is where 
the Essex boar shows his true value. Could I induce the pur¬ 
chase of a pure Essex male pig in every school district in our 
state, to be used upon the coarse and common sows of the coun¬ 
try, I have no doubt it would be of incalculable benefit, and do 
more to stop the mouths of those that are crying out against fat¬ 
tening pork, than any argument of mine. 
But just here I think there is a whisper among some of those 
who may hear this paper read, were it not for the color we would 
be induced to try the Essex, but anything for me but a black hog. 
To such, let me say, hold, my friend, and do thyself no harm; 
and come, let us reason together. Let me ask you the question, 
what is the hog kept for ? Harris on the Pig, in answering this 
question, says: “ The domestic hog is kept solely for its flesh and 
fat. The pig that will afford the greatest amount of meat and 
lard of the best quality at the least cost, other things being equal, 
is the most profitable breed.” The same writer compares the hog 
to a mill for converting our surplus corn, the slops of the house, 
sour milk "and whey of the dairy into pork. If the above is cor¬ 
rect, and it certainly is, why this muttering and foolish prejudice 
about the color of the mill ? Has any one of you ever known 
a lot of good fat hogs rejected, or that had to be sold below mar¬ 
ket value for the reason that they were black or spotted? The 
great point of preference is not in the color but in quality and 
form. I have been breeding and fattening for market the black 
and spotted hog for several years, and have yet to hear the first 
murmur or objection from any pork buyer on that account; but, 
on several occasions have sold my black and spotted hogs above 
the average paid for white, not because mine were black and 
