Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1870-05-26
From The Rural New Yorkerl
Chester Whites Defended.


Please allow a subscriber to sent
you a few lines, in answer to an ar
tiele in the Rural Of April 23d, page
270, headed Chester Whites nc
Breed" in which the writer, afteI
asking "by what right they are call
ed pure blood Chester White, y
and describing the size, form, &c.
of those he has seen under thai
name, he winds up by saying thai
he is forced to say, "humbug," anC
"that the people have been humbug
ged long enough, and it is time to
put a stop to it," &c.
Now, l think that the writer oi
the above has himself been badly
humbugged by some one, in not
getting the real Chester Whites
but it is, think, no reason he OF
any one else should condemn the
good, because he has obtained the
spurious article. Do we not all
know that no sooner is any thing
new sent abroad and requires rep
utation, than some unprincipled
persons are always ready to sup
Iply a worthless article under the
good name of the genuine? In the
last year or two, has it not been
done in numerous instances in the
case of Early Rose Potatose, Nor
way Oats, &c? But does that at
all prove that the genuine articles
of either are not in reality valuable
Improvements? p? Take any of the
new varieties Of small fruits,-are
there not thousands "humbugged"
every year by having spurious
plants sent to them under the name
of some good variety? And be-
cause they prove worthless, does it
follow those humbugged should
say the whole thing is humbug Z"
Any one who says the Chester
White are Coarse haired, coarse
boned, long. sided, long shouted,
large, lop-eared creatures" has not
seen the genuine article. | have
no doubt that there have been large
numbers of hogs sent out from
An
Chester Co., Pa, that were entirely
worthless as a pure or good stock !;
for l have seen a number of such
myself, that were a disgrace to the
name; but | will venture to say
that, take the country through, the
Chester Whites have done more to
improve the stock of swine than all
the other breeds put together. Let
any one travel through the West,
and almost always, where any at
tention has been paid to improv-
ing the hog, it has been done by
the Chester Whites. Look over
any Of the papers every fall-the
Rural, for instance-and read the
report of fine hogs killed in differ
ent places, and nine times out OF
ten, when the breed is mentioned,
it will be found they are Chester
Whites, or crosses of that stock.
1t is now four years since l
bought my first pair Of Chester
Whites, which cost me one hun"
dred and fifty dollars; and !
took trip down to Chester Co.,
Pa, myself, so that | should not be
"humbugged." l soon found that
all the hogs in Chester Co. were
not Chester Whites and since then
l really think l have seen more
good Chesters out of the county
than then saw in it. have kept
the stock now four years, and have
never yet wished to change them.
They ere quiet, sleek animals, good
mothers, grow to a good size
will fatten at any age, and Will
make more pork from given
amount OF feed than any breed !
have yet seen, and ! know such
will be the testimony Of thousands
of "the people who have been hum
bugged long enough Now, just
as soon as l am convinced that
there is a better breed Of hogs than
"pure blood Chester Whites" ]
want them; and if I allow some
one to palm Off a spurious article
on me at first, I will not get up and
write the whole thing a "humbug.
Middlebush, N. j.
MORTIMER WHITEHEAD.