The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1899-05-16
GOOD BRED STOCK VS.. SCRUB
STOCK.

W. Koiner's article, ought TO be i'm
pressed on the mind Of every farmer
in the South:
ut costs about as much to raise {
scrub that will sell for $50 to $35 as il
does a good grade Shorthorn or Aber
deem Angus that will bring $50 to $50
and the same difference in stockers
A report from West Virginia says,
that State is losing 81. 10000 a year
by not improving her beef cattle. II
this is true, how much more is Vir
ginia losing by using the pennyroyal
bull scrub for breeding ~purposesi"
This refers to cattle only. How
startling would the figures be if the
loss from raising inferior hogs and
sheep was added. 1t is very evident
Mr.. Koiner would have we'll bred stock.
Those who have tried only scrub cat
tie, razor back hogs and bare bellied
sheep, aud failed to find stock raising
profracle, should not conclude that
stock dots not pay, for, friends, there
is a great difference between well bred
animals and the degenerate stock that
predominates in this part of the coun
try, and that has led the people to be-
lieve, and often very properly, that
the less stock they have the better.
We have had some good stock ard a
lot Of inferior grades down nearly to
the lowest-the latter pressed on US by
debtors in lieu of money. l ofsen think
that il they had kept better STOCK, per
haps they would not have needed to
dispose Of it in this way.
II is interesting and surprising to oo-
serve tie difference in the natural pro-
pensities Of common and well bred
stock. The former usually have the
faculty only of living, while the latter
seem to live that they may seq v mans
needs. Careful selection and special
.zed breeding have done this, and it is
qlally clearly to be seen in cattle,
sheep and hogs.
At this time, | mean to speak more
particularly Of hogs, and give a little
resent experience with them. Last
summer a large litter OF pigs came into
Our possession, whose appearance sug
geeted that they might not be many
II moves from the SOUTH American
peccary, YET they were somewhat Oh
an improvement on some Of the uon
de cripts that one occasionally meets
with in these parts. They were turned
with several others-POland Cbipas
and Chester Whites Of about the same
age. They all had the same chance OF
feeding and growing until they were
killed IN February, lei the we'll bred
hogs averaged nearly 175 pounds per
head the common ones less than 100
pounds. If they had represented
nothing instead of $15, which We
allowed for them, and we had shot
them the day they came on the farm,
we would have been money in pocket
When so Improbable to us, l do not
see how others can make such pigs
pay, without turning ones hogs upon
ones nelghbors eleven months in the
year and just before killing, feeding
the self made pork a half barrel of
nubbins," as Mr.. Q. E Jones says in
the March Planter. But it is pretty
rough on the neighbors.
Lite last fall we got hold of another
lot Of a little better strain. Two litters
Of pigs of u own breeding, the result
Of a Cross between the Chester Whites
and Poland Chinas, and Of the same
age, have been fed along with this last
acquisition, or at least have been
allowed to feed themselves on arri
chokes most Of the winter and up to
this writing, April 2Oth. One would
suppose that the lot not far removed
from the kind that for many genera
tions back has had to depend for it's
living mostly on its capacity for rust
ling, would, under these circumstan
ces, have done the best, but the well
bred pigs took the lead from the start.
and are so far ahead now that they are
beyond comparison.
Why people continue to raise pizs
from razo back. boars is a puzzle,
when, at very small expense for q
good boar, and in so short a time. a
good strain Of hogs can be had, even
when very common sows are used to
start with,-A. R BelIwood, in South
err Planter.
When you write to advertisers please