The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-10-18
MIR. COBURN's NEW ONE.
Has Written and Compiled a Thick
Book on agThe Hog in America"

BOOK on "Ghe Hog IN America
"a companion to the cultured COW,
the beef steer and the helpful hem"
said Secretary Coburn, as he handed
out the report of the state board of ag
riculture for the quarter ending Sep
tember 80.
The report is a pamphlet of 226 pages,
similar to those of the series which
have preceded it, and Mr.. COburn calls
1T, Pork Production: The Hog in
America It deals with the hog in all
his different aspects, particularly as
Kansas debt-payer and mortgage litter
In introducing the hog to his readers
Secretary Coburn recalls his subjects
personal history from the earliest anti
guilty down through the ages to the
present time. He tells how the hog was
despised by the ancients and roamed
the forests Of the old world for ages,
but has now won his way to the hearts
and stomachs of the nations, become
amenable to civilization, and under the
modifying influences Of Indian corn and
salubriouS surroundings he has become
in important factor in the worlds pro-
gress, and particularly that of America,
as a debt-payer and a buttress of pros
perity. Secretary Coburn continues;
I'm his American form the mouths of
every nation water for rashers from his
unctuouS carcass, and the pinched and
petty savings of peasants and the cOf-
fers of princes are alike rifled of their
boarded coins to exchange for the sta
pies and luXurieS he alone yields.
Whether MammOn is to furnish forth
a marriage feast in Gotham, or a luck
less prospector be grudgingly grub
staked for last desperate venture into
the frozen Businesses of the Yukon, the
hog must be early reckOned with"
After speaking of the development of
the hog in Kansas, Secretary Coburn
says:
'fWhere corn and grass most abound
there the hog is most prof1tably evOlv-
ed and wakes fattest. Kansas is a corn
orchard parked with grasses. Nowhere
r1c Il ono in gTra for
opUlence. In such region, with such
an environment, the hog and his col
league, the beef and steer, are twin
chief alchen1iStS who tranSmute the
bulIxier products of the soil into gold
and silver equivalents wherewith to
buy better homes, added lands, luxury,
and leisure. In Kansas he finds the IA
vored zone-his Ell Dorado. Here he at
tains the qualities which make his flesh
a delicacy sought of epicureS in Occi-
dent and Orient, no less than a fit and
staple ration for men of heroic under
takingS, iron nerve, and cool brain, like
those who at Manila and Santiago fired
the unerring shots that Wrenched loose
the props of a throne, revised the
worlds map, and replaced tyranny's
flag with Old Glory"
The report contains everything of in
terest to swine breeders and those who
raise hogs for the market, as nearly
illustrated and will doubtless be of con-
siderable value to the farmers of Kan
sas.
There are ten thousand of these re-
ports issued. The great bulk of them,
of course. go to progressive Kansas
farmers, but the demand is far greater
than the supply. Secretary Coburn also
sends a few abroad There are many
calls for them, especially from England
and Australia. Newspapers in London,
Liverpool, Edinburgh and Glasgow, and
in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sidney, in
Australia, apply for the reports regu-
larly and reproduce columns of the
matter. Copies also go to Cape Colony
South Africa, and to Winnipeg, Mani
tOba.