The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-12-11

financial point of view The things which
are sold to people of New York and Phila-
delphia are raised in order that the farmers
may be rich and prosperous. Their tea
berry and hogs they raise for their own
glorificatiou and pleasure.
Every one of these farmers selects q few
of the most promising of his pigs for the
fat hog contest In the fall. These pigs are
nourished and fattened with care from their
youth upward. They are picked out from
the other pigs, and they are fed with every
thing that can make them fat and with as
much of it as they will eat. The other pigs
are only commodities, raised for the butcher
and sale, and must show profit over the
cost of their care and feed The pigs selec-
ted for q fat hog contest are not restricted
by the necessities OF good business manages
ment. They are not raised for money, but
for glory. The feed which is given to one
of them would suffice to rear and fatten
reasonably several other pigs. Their food is
placed before them in order that they may
not lose any of their weight by the eXer-
else of hunting for it.
BY fall everything is ready for the great
event of the neighborhood. All the farmers,
with their hired men, wives, children and
relatives, have kept informed for weeks on
the growth and size of their respective en-
tries for the great champion killing OF the
fat hogs 1t is the event of the neighbor-
hood, for It decides who is the best farmer.
| The children Of the family have taken an
| interest in the pigs as soon as they were Sc
lected for the contest. and they have COM
pared notes with the other children in the
neighborhood. The hogs may be secretly
| weighed, but the expert Jerseyman of this
region is so good a judge of the weight Of q
hog that he can guess within per cent OF
the weight OF the latest hog
After the frost comes, about election day,
the time for this prize hog killing is selected.
| Ordinary hogs may be killed then or at some
| other time; no account is taken OF them by
the neighborhood; they have been brought
up from mercenary motives alone. 1t rarely
rains on the day OF the killing OF the champ
| pion hogs. Nature in this part of Jersey
takes care of that. The day is cold and
crisp, with so much sunshine that it Ia more
| ENJOYABLE out of doors than within. The
biggest farm house In the neighborhood ie
selected as the meeting place, and all the
! people for miles are notified.
The fat hogs are brought in the morning
| IN comfortable wagons, To make them
walk would be to reduce their weight
| Every man may select bis own hog killer
but the choice usually falls on two or three
| men who have built up a reputation by
years of painstaking effort. The people
gather after breakfast. They drive UP ir
all kinds of vehicles, buggies. carriages anC
wagons. Many of them walk. The farm
for miles around are deserted or left in care
of the aged and inhrm. The politicians o.
the county attend as q matter of course. /
is vote making time as we'll They NEE
their constituents there on terms of friend
ship and cheerfulness that are possible OF
no other occasion Strangers are rarely
present. unless those can be called stranger
who have moved away and come back foI
this gala day Of ell the year.
Inside the farm house the cooks are busily
at work There are no hired cooks, such al
would be employed on such an occasion In
CITY. but the farmers wives, who are glaC
TO have this occasion TO display their skill
They cook and wait on the tables and tall
over the gossip of the year. The hom'
cooking cannot be surpassed. The dishes
are things raised within the state and it
waters Oyster soup, with the oysters
crowding hard the crackers, which hav'
been cooked with them, chickens, turkeys
ducks, and all kinds Of meat, with celeries
1ellies and stnfflng, everything raised nea
by. Then there are all kinds Of vegetable
raised on the farms and picked out for thi
great occasion. There are pies, withou
number OF all kinds-pumpkin. mince. ap
pie, custard, lemon-in all sizes and al
homemade. not one of them touched By
machinery.
The beverage lie teaberry. There may b
applejack, for there is always applejacl
around, but teaherry is the appropriate
drink that goes with this bountiful dinner
There is coffee for the women and for thoS