THOROUHBRED SWINE.

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 150, 24 April 1873, Page 2

THOROUHBRED SWINE.

Tub recently held Nutionil Couvontiou of 4 nine brooders. United Slates, has accomplished several reforms in swinebrccdmg m Inch « ill tend to reduce to some sort of order and system wlwt Ihm been Inlhcrto a haphazard and altogether irregular business. Tho question " What eon«titutes thoroughbred swine?" bus been settled ; mid h.ul the Convention achieved nothing beyond this its work would have been worth nil the cost. The committee appointed to report upon this question decided that " only such breeds should rank as thoroughbred as arc recognised in authentic history in of sufficient remote origin, win n bivil in a line, to result in the establishment of a lixed type, capable of duplicating themwhes with uniformity. The committee also recom mended that the leading bleeders of pure bred -nune form breeders' club*, for the purpose of establishing a herd registry, after the plan adopted by breeders of thoroughbred cattle, in order to secure greater uniformity, and to perfect as noon as possible the \anous breeds." This decision rules out Poland -Oil ma, Chester Whites, improved Cbeshires, and «ome other to-called breeds, which must undergo further clo«e breeding and careful management before they can be entitled to tho distinction of thoroughbred. A scale of points was alo adopted for the guidance of judges ut l.ur-, 111 making awards They are an follows :—: — Perfection, scale 100 points, to bo divided ai follows : Back, 10 ; long nb«, 8 ; «hort ribs, 7 ; shoulder, 8 ; ham, 12 ; length of bod\, G ; flunk, 'i ; twi*t, G ; snout, 5 ; jowl, 3 ; face, 3 ; enr, 2 ; neck, I ; skin, 5 ; huir, 3 ; bone, 3 5 legs, 3; feet, 2 ; tail, I. The committee appointed to report on what is the inosi prolitiiblo hog for the raiser, pricker, and consumer did so as lollows: — "The hog mu»t h.ivo a small, short head, hca\j |o»l, iiud tliicL s'lort in>ck ; ear small and thin, and toll r■iblv erect, not ob|i<i lion lble it it drojps sli^htl> foi\\<i'<l; mudt bu str.nglit 110111 luxk bav,k to think ; mint let well ■ down to the knee? in bnskc^.i of good length from head lo

tail ; broad on the back ; ribs rather barrel shaped ; must bo slightly rounded and curved in the back from the shoulder Id the sotting on of the tail, tail small ; long in the ham from hock to letting off at the loin ; shoulder not too large, on ly large enough to giro symmetry to t ho animal ; h«m broad and full ; hair smooth and evenly set on ; skin soft nnd elastic to the touch ; legs short and small, and well let under ; broad between the logs ; good depth between bottom and top of hog ; pleasant and quiet disposition ; should not weigh, as r general rule, more than 300 or 100 lbs gross at t\\ eh e or eighteen month*, according to keep; colour may be black or white, or a mixture of the two The hog should measure as many feet from top of head to setting on of tail as he does round the body j nnd as many niches round tho leg below the knee as he does feet m length and around the hotly, and Hit* depth of body will bo four-fifths of his height. — .Lmertcan Agriculturist. In a discussion which c.nne up regarding murk as mauuro for meadow, Dr K. Ware Sjlvtitcr stated that he hauls out from .")<JO to 1000 loads of this material each year. Of course its ctl'eets depend on its qualiU- His is from a black ash s« nmp mid almost pure vegetable mould. Muck composed pirtialh of sand is wo*th h>s and fulls off in value m pn - portion to the quantity of sand contained. One season ho applied muck wry tlnckh to half of a mowing field, and intended to have set stnLes to indicate the dividing line, but this was neglected. However, when the grass started, anxl all through the summer the difference m favour of the mucked portion of the meadow was so conspicuous that no other marinks were nece-^ary. Col Curtis stated that e>en muck yah more or le*s sand in it ma} be valuable on clay land, p.irlh foritsmcclianic.il effects in lightening up the soil; but for loams this character of muck i» not worth hauling, better collect leaves and similar rubbish. Mr Ely uses muck with farmyard manure. Dr Trimble once spread muck on a b.irrcn fluid, and the next jcar it was attractive with a fine HiHintancous grow th of white clover. Jam«s L. lugalsbee of Washington county said tli.it, extending through a portion of his woodland is a cleft or channel mnile by some cojitulsion of past time?, and filled with leaves, the accumulation, perhaps of centuries. Three years ago he op*ncd one end of this pull}, let the water diani on", and carted 100 loads of the muck upon slaty or shale- land, applying it in strips, alternating with stable manure nud two other kinds of muck from nw amp* Corn and potatoi- were planted, and the crops J indicated a decided difference in the value of muck, that from, the swamps show ing by comparison the poorest results, while that from the woodland proved to be as good as stable manure. Mr In«aKbce detaile 1 further experiments, going to show that it all depends on the composition of the material n«ed. In illustration of tins fact he said : " Not far from mv place is a swamp, which lies on the water-shed between Lake Champlain and the Hudson. The edges of this swamp nre heavily timbered with black mnple, ash, and as you get I in, the growth decreases in qivility and hardness, until the middle is nothing but moss. The muck from the outer e<\'os is good. I Hiwi where it was put on a gravelly sod in 1850, and renewed but onco sine* 1 , jet that land has produced an average of 250 busheU of potatoes j early, and this } car yielded 300 busheh. But the muck from the middle is worthless ; parts of the muMle hare Wen drained dry. but nothing thrives there ; it sprouts, tmns ji-llow,. mil dies." MrColton remarked that the talueof iiiuek is immured by the quantity it contains of Tegctable matter already decajed or capable of decaying. Tho centre of tho swamp Mr lugalsbee allude* to ii compoiod of fibrous matter not capable of decomposition, while the outer edge is tho accumulation, of thoroughly rotted leaves and gras».