River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1890-02-27
FARM AND GARDEN.
The COMING HOG.
Farmer and stock Raiser Tells VIVA
Ii VIII Ee

Il
A Farmer and stock Raiser Tells What
1t VIII he.
The coming hog of twenty years ago
is not the coming hog of to-day, says
| writer in the Ohio Farmer. Then, con-
sumption said heavy bacon and thou.
sands of tons of lard. To-day the bot
| tom of the lard vat has been knocked
out, and no more heavy bacon is wanted.
/ The heavy hog, full of lard, is a drug
on the market. The light hog, full of
lean meat brings the highest price. BY
eight" dc not mean the little, nerv-
Gus, wiry up-eared, weasel-looking hog,
but a light, large hog. We must never
| let go of size; this always has and al
ways will play large part in the sale
of any animal. The coming hog will
meet the wants OF all. The market
wants pig that, dropped April l, will
weigh 200 pounds October /, when mar
lxeted, and it will be solid, lean meat.
The coming hog will be good feeder.
| Bran, corn, peas and middlings will be
| his common diet, but he will Craze on
clover and CLEAN shack in the woods;
will thrive on dairy and house slops,
and if necessary will clean up the re-
| fuse Of the country butchers slaughter
house, and by his great power of assim-
ilation convert all these things into de-
| licious lean meat But he will not eat
| the slop of distilleries, for distilleries
will not then exist.
| Whether he will be white or black is
a question. The breeders of white
hogs will expect him to be white and
the breeders of black hogs, black. His
characteristics will be-short nose;
smooth face, not too broad; small jawl;
short, clean neck; medium-sized Shout
der; superb back and loins, and a splen-
did ham; he will butcher clean, without
a preponderance of slush or waste;
belly light and smooth; body of medium
size and firm; tail small; eyes well out;
ear thin and slightly dropping, but not
enough to interfere with sight; body
long and covered with thick coat of
fine, short hair.
Such characteristics will insure a
large proportion of lean meat. just what
the consumer demands. Many infiu-
ences will hinder the speedy realization
of the coming hog, such as the show
ring, where fat will rule, which serves
to cover a multitude of sins. Size is
often ignored in the show ring. The
score card is another impediment. A
scratch of half point at the nose be-
cause it is little too sharp or long, or
short; another scratch on the face be-
cause it is too broad or too narrow; an
other on the eye because it has not the
| right expressions; the coat is too short,
the swirl makes a rosette, the tail
twists the wrong way, etc.
Tastes will hinder the concentration
| Of our forces toward the coming hog. 1t
! has been said that man is as the dog
that follows him. This is true to GER
tain extent in all vocations of life.
Hence you will see the man of nerv-
Gus temperament erect form, short
face, bright eye, and little aristocratic,
breeding the Berkshire.
The man whose head and shoulders
seem too large for his body will breed
the Victorias; the man of not very
broad and expansive mind, content with
little things, likes pleasure, is satisfied
to win without much competition, will
take the small breeds; the dom t-care
fellow, who will wear his coat wrong
side out if he happens to put it on that
way, will stay with the Jersey Reds;
the man who has missed his calling will
breed Cheshires; the man who is decep-
tive every time and will induce agricul-
tural papers to sell out cheap, will
breed Ohio improved Chesters; the
good-natured fellow, but bigoted, thinks
he can accomplish what no one else can,
and don't mind few specks of mud on
his coat, will expend his energies on
Todd's improved Chesters; the man who
would prefer dinner of snout to nice
bit of ham, who will strain at a gnat
and swallow a camel, will have his heart
set on the old-fashioned Chester White;
lastly, the square built robust, good
natured fellow who knows he is at the
front, and who prefers the company of a
colored lady to white one, who is very
economical but has an extravagant
waste of cloth at the seat of his pants
will advocate the Poland-China.