Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-06-03
THE GAZETTE.
FRIDAY MORNING. LUNE 3. 1859.
VS.. HOGS.

The question has been asked, which is the
most profitable to the farmer, Sheep or Hogs!
This, like the question We attempted to
answer in a late number of the Valley Farm
or. GLOW much Pork will a bushel Of Corn
make2", depends upon contingent circum-
stances. First, the breeds Of both are to be
considered. Second, the advantages of con-
yenient market, and the advantages and
facilities of the farm for the accommodation
of the different classes of animals. Torender
sheep growing profitable, a breed must be
kept that will yield Il good fleece and at the
same time be most valuable for mutton
The French Merinos give a fleece of the
greatest value to the manufacturer while
their mutton is inferior; the fleece of the
Merino, though superior in quality will bring
but little if any more in our American mar
kets than the wool from the South Down
whose mutton will bring the highest market
price.
As we intimated in a former article, if
farmers generally knew how little they re-
ceived, in rsthrn for the corn they feed to
their hogs, they would secure and maintain
the best breeds, and adopt a more economical
method of feeding. To make hog growing
profitable, those breeds should he kept that
will give the greatest increase for the guam
tity of food consumed, and will reach maturi-
ty in the shortest period. In these respects
there is a vast difference in the hogs that we
meet with over the country.
On this question the Hon. John Went
worth, who has turned farmeri in Summit coun-
ty, ILL.,, makes some practical common sense
remarks in the Prairie Farmer. After COM
pairing various breeds of sheep and hogs, he
concludes that there is a very material pre-
ference in favor of the South Down sheep and
the Suffolk hog. He says: 1.-THE South
Down sheep and Suffolk hogs are very quiet.
They lose nothing from rowing. What
they eat is absorbed in their system to a
greater extent than that eaten by any other
animals of their kind. Hence they make far
less offal. For6ve months in the year my
Sufolks and South Downs run together and
have nothing but grass, and both keep fat.
The fleece ofthe South Down sheep is gener-
ally one-fourth larger than that ofthe COM
mon sheep, and the chance of their extra
lambs will pay for their keeping. estimate
the expense of fattening out of the grass sea-
son, as only one halfthat ofthe common sheep.
which estimated at one-half of the mutton.
This, however, would not be one quarter in
the case of the South Downs, as their mutton
commands a higher price than that of the
common sheep. / will call it one-ffth.-
Thus you have in the case of the South Downs
one lamb annually and four-ffths of the
original carcass as mutton in the end for net
profit. Last year l got two dollars quick
for South Down lambs, and one dollar and
fifty cents for alf-bloods--when ] sold my
French Merinos for seventy FIVE cents to one
dollar"
Mr.. Wentworth represents the Suffolk
hogs, as quiet and domestic in their nature,
they waste no fat in running around but
appropriate all the food they eat to the best
advantage. The objection formerly raised
against the Suffolk breed of hogs, that they
were deficient in hair, for our cold climate,
has been in q great degree remedied by the
introduction ofthose better covered, and in
crossing with similar hogs with more hair in
our own country. The Suffolk is a pet hog,
and the tendency ofthe owner is to spoil them
for breeding purposes, by allowing them to
become too a tbefore they approach maturi-
ty. We have imported several Suifolks for
different farmers, and in a number Of instan-
ces they were ruined by being fed too high
" on the way. and became so fat as to be
worthless for breeding. The Suffolk requires
no feeding in summer while young, if grass
is abundant; and when fed, food that is bulky
and least nutritious, as brain, vegetables,
slop, &C., should be given them until their
bones acquire sufficient size and strength
to sustain their weight. Cared for in this
way they will breed well and attain to large
size. But in cold weather, shelter, with a
bed of leaves, is indispensable for the Suf-
folk, though no breed should be neglected in
this respect.
When a breed of hogs of larger bone and
greater weight is desired, none we think is
superior to the Chester White.
Every farmer keeps hogs, while compare.
lively few keep sheep, not so many as should
keep them. Mutton is undoubtedly more
healthy than pork, and good mutton al
ways commands a ready sale in market
81. Louis Valley Farmer.