, 1876-12-23
THE uNCLEAN BEAST.
SOMETHING ABOUT THE BREED
Pa ING OF SWINE.
A MEvER.FAILING SOURCE OF REVENUE

A NEVER. FAILING SOURCE OF REVENUE
Since the herd of swine crushed
down the steep place and perished mis-
erably in the waters" there has been
certain antipathy entertainable against
the porcine race. This is not peculiar
to the Hebrew race, but even to the
more cultured nations of Europe. The
Frenchman find no term of con-
tempt to apply to an enemy worse than
"cochon !" which he rings out with a
nasal speer unapproachable to any
other nationality. The drawling. yaw-
ping Missourian calls his adversary a
'hawg," whenever he gets the worst OF
an argument. In our opinion, the only
one who pays proper respect to the pig,
is the Irishman, who never aliudes to
him as hog. Yet the pig is charac-
ter in his way. and a Dever-failing
source of revenue to his master. Go
through Southern Oregon, especially
along the Coquille and Rogue rivers,
and You will fiud a people who don't
average a meal of beef or mn,ton twice
a month. When they can kill deer,
they have venison on their tables; and
when there are no deer, then they fall
back upon swine flesh. What would
those people do if there were nc swine'
IN WASHINGTON TERRITORY
Millions OF dollars have been sent away
for hams, bacon and lard. that could
have been kept here, had men been
foresighted enough to take up swamp
land, drain it and plant wheat or bar
ley on which hogs would fatten among
the stubble, after the crop was removed.
And unless wheat is worth ninety cents
per bushel, it will pay farmer better
to turn in his hogs on the standing
crop, than to pay the expense of reap
ing, threshing, sacking, storage, freight
and insurance. Swine are always q
cash article in the markets OF Seattle,
Olympia, and Victoria, as they have
been mostly driven heretofore from the
Yakima valley to the seaboard. But
now Lewis county is coming in with
her productions in this line, with a
yield of $4,000 worth for the present
year, which is no bad sign for little
county which polls only 375 votes. The
scarcity of hogs has been visibly felt on
the great body of reclaimed land lying
about
THE SwINOMIsH FLATS
During the past season. Farmers had
to leave grain on the ground and could
buy no lean hogs to eat it up. Tuls-
rooters from BenIcia and Vallejo "razor-
backs" would have been sold at fabd-
lous figures if landed on the delta of the
Skagit. What few hogs have been fat
tened there have founo easy sale either
at Port Townsend or Seattle, for the
highest market rates. But it is no
vague estimate 10 say that three thou
sand head of hogs could have been fat
tened there on wheat that has gone to
waste for want Of swine to eat it. The
stock hogs can be let to run about the
marshes and in the woods until after
harvest time, when they can lie turned
in upon the stubble to eat themselves
fat and their owner rich. The want of
acorns is one drawback here, as the Sa-
cramento valley has "soap-root" for
the climate of the Sacramento valley is
too dry and arid for pork-raising. Di-
seases are generated in these animals
by either excess of weather; if 100 hot,
they are liable to scurvy; if too damp,
they are apt to get murrain or becane
fevered from the scratches.
THE CHESTER WHITE
Suits us best for this Territory, being
of good size and great activity For
California, the Berkshires and Essex
are in demand as their black hides en-
able them to stand the hot weather BET
ter and they are less liable to scurvy
than the Suffolk or Chester White. A
variety produced by crossing the Chin-
ESQ with the Polish breed, is greatly
sought for here at the North. where it is
called the ''Polenchins. - or words to
that effect. This hog is plump ard
chunky. maturing quickly and fatten-
ing on almost any sort of provender. A
farmer in Yamhill county, Oregon, re-
Gently killed barrow of this stock, ten
months old which weighed 342 pounds
dressed. At nine cents a pound this
gives a yield of $30.7S which is very
nice little sum for porker of that age.
The largest swine we have seen here
abouts are cross between the Suffolk
and Chester, bred by Arthur Phinney,
of Port Ludlow. He seems to take as
much pride in his pigs as Robert Bon
ner does in his horses. Among his coll
lection is the imported boar, Roger Ba-
con, which weighs 800 pounds; and
from him are bred the most Of his
stock. He also has seven sOws weighing
over sou pounds each. ,.-
THE WARM, MOIST CLIMATE
OF the counties Immediately adjoining
Puget Sound, adapt 4his locality for
raising the White Suffolks, Graziers and
Chesters. as scurvy is disease almost
unknown. These invariably produce
q heavier carcase than the Essex, which
is the Intelligent contraband" of the
porcine race; or the Berkshire with the
saucy white blaze down his face. And
as there are no climatic obstacles to
growing them here, they will necessarily
take precedence of all other breeds. 1t
is a great error, for any swine breeder
to keep fattening hogs continually in
the grain field. They should be kept in
small corral during fattsnipg time and
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