Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1879-10-01

SWINE.
BY GEORGE GARDNER.

Of hogs, which | sold for eight cents
per pound for all those about 200
pounds and under, and for seven cents
per pound for those above 800 pounds
and having also bought some young
ones for another year, I feel free to
write few lines on Swine in gener-
al.
1t is astonishing how much i'm
provcment has been effected in the
whole swine of the county. The Berk-
shire breed is the most fashionable
and, as ir the case with the Short
horn cattle, extraordinary prices are
paid Tor them to those holding psrtic-
ulsr favorite strains, and though there
is much bordering on the ridiculous
in the absurdly high prices, it is not
altogether folly, since, besides giving
great renown to this particular breed,
it causes a general respect for pure
bred stock. There are several other
really good breeds, and much of the
excellence of the best types has been
attained by pntri' feeding followed up
through successive generations. BY
this remark there is no reflection in-
tended on high feeding; for, on the
contrary, it would be of the utmost
benefit to farmers if from the birth Of
every animal on the farm they would
all feed in way to force growth and
secure the very best quality.
Thoro is no doubt about the Essex
and The White breeds being possessed
Of all good qualities, as also the Msgie
and the Red breed. In relation to
the last mentioned. can remember
when there were hundreds Of thousands
of the Reds. or as they we're then
called, Sandy pigs. They we're dscid-
edly much more prolific than hogs in
general are now adays, for it was rare
TO see a sow, after her first litter, with
less than twelve or thirteen gigs. Fiji
ty.seyen years ago my father had a
Sandy sow killed which weighed forty
scores-SO0 pounds. Thirty-e & h t
years ago was steward for q large
landowner, and had a young sow
slaughtered after she had only bad two
filters, and her weight was 900 pounds.
Her mother, q Yorkshire white SOW,
was killed previously. weighing sO9
pounds. The mother was nine feet
long and the daughter not eight feet;
long and the daughter not eight feet;
but she was thicker and deeper. The
last mentioned had her pigs by an Es-
sex boar, and l won a great many pre-
miums at agricultural shows from this
cross, tire ofsprings Of which were not
large when full grown, like the ones
mentioned above, but they came
quickly to the maturity. The prog
eny Of this cross between the large
Yorkshire White and the small black
Essex was very good for fsttening at
anv age, for from the age Of two
months they would be only just able
to waddle about till at the age Of ten
months the show pigs became totally
blind from an accumulation of fat and
fed with balls of barley meal put into
their mouths az they salt on their
launches.
1t is very certain that it will not pay
to keep pigs running around in what II
called "store" condition, bu. which j;
often a half starved state:for, although
they cost but little for food, they pay
nothing at all for that little; whereas,
when fed well from the first, they pay
all the while, and by being kept il
.tyes they will so enrich any farm viii
their manure as to bring it up to bsa'
heavy crops. Indeed, their dropping
are richer in isrIiliziug properties thar
those OF any other animsl excepting
those ted on grea, deal of Oilcake
Swine are fattened by great portic'
of the best tonant>farmsrs in EnglanC
on account Of the prcdlgiOus crop
which the manure from fattenlng hog
produces. So well is this understood
there, that farmer is well satisfied /
the manure is all the gains for tn
trouble; that is, If the hogs when sol
make enough to pay for the feeding
the farmer thinks the manure a goo'
profit.
The worst of hog feeding in tn
West and South is, that the cultivaIe'
land is robbed and impoverished b
giving the corn to the hogs either i
the woods or in places whsrs the ma
nure is all lost, and if the present gen
Grafton of Western farmers could b
allowed to revisit the earth cenlur
hence, they would Sud its inhabitan'
at the period lamentlng the ignorane
and terrible sefshness Of themselves
the spiritual visitan,s, when they wei
the flesh.
Treatment of Frosted Plant