The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1876-04-27
THE YEEkssxIHE HOG
From the Progressive Farmer. J

FL. F'UBasr When | consented
to write up the good points of the
Berkshire, | did 50 without stopping
to think that | might possibly excite
the jealousy of those breeding 9TH
er swine. 1t is not my wish TO DO
this. | have no desire to uulersta ate
other breeds. There are no people
under the sun that exercise freedom
Of opinion equal to Americans. You
see this in religion, politics and all
secular affairs. Men do their own
thinking and act in harmony with
their conclusions, caring little what
Others think on the same point;
hence while there may be in the ag-
gregatc large degree of harmony OF
purpose, there is never, ending di-
versity in the means employed. In
no class is this more fully exemplifed
than among farmers. Hence the diff
ferent strains OF horses, cattle, sheep,
swine and pnuitry--all have their
friends; and these are not confined
to any particular State, county or
ncighhorho0i as in other countries,
but are scattered 'hither and thither"
over the land.
More money has been lost by west
crn farmers through carelessness aud
indifference in breeding, feeding and
attending to their swine than proba-
bly, through any ether meaus. Take
a lot Of "prairie rooters" bred in and
in. year after year, shut up in close
pen, without shelter from the biz
yards Of winter or san in summer, in
mud and their own filth up to their
eyes, and a farmer had better work
by the day at fifty cents, and board
himself, than 10 raise corn on his own
land aud feed to such lot Of hogs.
Let us iuqaiso What it takes TO con
stitute a good hog. An English writer
gives the following as the points of a
good hog:
"Suflicient debt of carcass, and
such an elAngation Of the body rs will
insure sufficient lateral expansion.
Let the lon and the chest be broad.
TIE breadth fth2 latter denotes good
room for the play Of the loags, and a
consequent free aui healthy c,rcala
ton, essential 10 the thriving or fat
tening of any animal. The bone
should be small and the Joints fine
Nothing is more Indicative of high
breeding than this; aul the legs
should b. no longer than, when fully
fat, would just prevent the anima.'s
body from trailing on the ground
The leg is the least profitable portion
Of the hog, aud we require no more
of it than is absolutely necessary.
Sec that the fret be firm and sound,
that the toes lie we'll together, and
press straight npon the ground, as
also that the claws are even, upright
ana healthy. Many say that the form
of the head is ot little or no consc-
quence, aud that good hog may
have an ugly head; but | regard the
head of all animals as one of the very
principal points in which pure and or
impure breeding will be most obyi-
ously indicated. \ high bred ami
NAL will invariably DO found to arrive
more speedily at maturity, to turn out
more proftably than one Of the ques-
tionable or impure stock; and such
being the case, | consider that the
head of the hog is by no means a
point to be overlooked by the pur-
chaser. The description Of the head
most likely to promise, or rather to
be a couoomitant of high breeding, is
one not carrying heavy bone, not too
fat on the forehead, or possessing too
long snout. The snout should be
Il 4 L.. l. i II,