The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1877-04-18
Agricultural Department.
W. S. SHIELDS. EDITOR.
swine Breeding in Tennessee

Swine Breeding IN tennessee.
An essay by R. P. Ledbetter, eff Harpeth Bridge,
Tennessee, read before the second annual meeting
Of the Tennessee Sock Breeders Association.
Mr.. President In obediance to
your appointment to prepare a pa.
per to be read before this meeting,
con swine breeding in Tennessee,
breeds best adapted to our State,
etc. 1 have given the points en-
braced in the scope of your appoint
ment such attention and such thought
as my very limited time and oppor-
tunities would permit. But an es-
say for an occasion like the present
cannot be expected to be at all ex-
haustive of subject of such vast
ness, nor can I be expected to
claim originality for all that is con-
tanned in this paper, as much of it is
simply compilation of what has
been written by others. Indeed.
choose rather to adopt the language
Of others wherever / can find senti-
ments with which my own can cheer
fully harmonic.
That Tennessee is as well If not
better than any other State adapted
to the breeding and rearing of swine,
can only be doubted by such as are
grossly ignorant of our soil, climate.
the abundance OF water, and its reg
ular distribution over our entire
State.
Illinois, if not Ohio and Indiana,
may possibly average better soil for
raising corn for the fattening Of
pork than Tennessee, yet there are
other considerations which material
ly affect the proftably handling Of
live stock. Tennessee, by virtue Of
her geographical position, vouchsafes
to the live stock breeder more or
less pasture, during the winter
months. not only making the keep
ing of hogs through the winter CON-
paratively cheap. but is absolutely
essential to the thrift and healta of
hogs. Add to this the great saving
to tue Tennessee breeder, by being
almost free from the expense of pro-
viding shelter during winter, and we
great superiority of Tennessee over
any of the more northern States.
In Illinoise, Ohio and Indiana,
the excess of feed required to keep
up animals warmth, together with
the immense losses of hogs in winter
by disease, superinduced by long.
continued feeding on "dry corn"
are damaging indeed to breeders in
the States just alluded to.
But in Tennessee, one Of our
greatest drawbacks lies in the fact
of our proneness to think that "a
hog is a hog" and that is all. And
this old fogy stereotyped opinion is
not confined to farmers, but even
our agricultural and live stock |
journals practically ignore swine
breeding, all of which is easily seen /
by nothing the marvelously meagre
amount of original matter contained |
in their columns, and by the way, !
this state OF affairs will not much /
longer satisfy the humble followers
of the ''prodigal son." if indeed it |
will be tolerated.
But let US look at facts and fig
ures to see if swine breeding be so
diminutive a pursuit after all. Well,
according to the census of 1870,
Tennessee had in round numbers
one and half million head of swine
averaging in value $6,S42, 800 and
the vast sum might easily enough
have been doubled by the smallest
effort on the part of those engaged
in raising swine, by raising either
purebred or high grade animals, as
is shown by the average value of
hogs in New York and Connecticut,
in the former of which hogs were
worth 81! per head, and in the lat
ter $l8. am free to admit that
the high price Of grain had some
thing to do with the high average,
but the main reason is to be sought
in the fact that better blood, and in
creased attention has been paid to
this branch of live stock in the
States just alluded to. Then there
is an intrinsic value, and not fan
cied one in blooded stock, and more
in all meat-producing ami
mails.
But let US look at the live stock
statistics from Chicago for the year
1873, it being perhaps the greatest
meat market in the world:
Well, / CLEAN for the report Of
that year.
No. Of hogs received asz; $780, sold for $5yI5aoo
a 6 SassR 25 5,5s4 : $3.50, s55SSs
Thus it will be seen that the ac-
tual value of swine sold in the Chi
cago market was nearly equal to the
combined value of all the cattle,
sheep and horses sold there for the
same year.
l close this branch of the subject
by quoting from the Resources Of ,
Tennessee, page 1879: The State
Tennessee, is producing tweuty-six
logs TO the one hundred acres of
and in actual cultivation, making
he percentage about 145 hogs to
each 100 inhabitants; whereas, we
night easily produce one hog to
each and every acre cultivated in
TO other necessary live
stock, making five times as many
logs as the State has population,
Increasing our surplus meat to at
east 100, 100000 pounds; and this,
90, with manifest benefit TO our
ands, and an addition of 10000
let to our revenue. If we mistake
rot, in very few years Tennessee 1
will become one of the great meat
markets Of the South"
4.